Health Promotion about Obesity
Introduction
For individuals to be able to take maximum care of themselves when it comes to health, it is necessary that they be appropriately equipped. When individuals are enabled to take are of themselves, the result is healthy communities and populations. The process of enabling/equipping persons with skills necessary to maintain the highest possible health care practices is referred to as health care promotion (Edelman, Mandle and Kudzma, 2017). This promotion is a main concern of the international community. Various factors interact together to influence health. It follows therefore that if optimal health were to be obtained and maintained, then all the necessary factors should be considered. Ottawa charter on health promotion was an initiative by the international community to devise effective ways of promoting healthcare. It was guided by the knowledge that such promotion was essential if the goal of having every individual enjoying optimal health from the year 2000 and beyond were to be achieved. The charter builds one some other international health agreements such as the alma matter declaration and the international entitlement of every person to the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing. The charter identified five main strategies that can be used to effectively achieve health promotion. Diabetes mellitus is a condition that involves impaired sugar metabolism. It involves a situation where the liver is not producing insulin at all, producing it in insufficient quantities or the body is not receptive to the insulin produced (Atlas, 2015). The result is an elevated blood sugar which can lead to complications if not managed (Rewers and Ludvigsson, 2016). The condition is on the rise. It was chosen in this case due to the alarming increase in the number of cases and its attribution to lifestyle factors. This essay is going to discuss the role of the nurse in using the five main strategies identified in the Ottawa charter to promote health about diabetes mellitus.
Build healthy Public Policy
The aim of this strategy is to ensure that the policy makers have consider health in every policy they make. This applies to the policy making by all sectors and at all levels (Eldredge, Markham and Ruiter, 2016). It is necessary that such policies consider any health implications and ensure that as much as possible the policies promote health. One might wonder what role a nurse can play in this, but they can play several roles. Some nurses are involved in the formulation of policies. Since they are health professional they should be able to offer appropriate advice to make sure that the policy favours promotion of health. An example would be advising that less tax be healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables and more tax be imposed on sugar. This is because excessive consumption of sugar has been implicated in diabetes mellitus while a health diet has been shown to reduce the risk for the disease. A higher tax would mean less purchasing and a lower tax would potentially lead to higher purchases (Duckett and Willcox, 2015). The nurse could also take a personal initiative of forming an organization that calls for healthy public policy and mobilizing support. This support should come from persons of different sectors to maximize chances of success.
Create Supportive Environments
The environment of an individual inevitably affects their ability to achieve and maintain optimal health. For instance, there are higher chances of disease outbreaks developing in a region where there are poor water and sanitation standards. On the other hand, health care is likely to be optimal in a region where there are plenty of health facilities (Whitney and Rolfes, 2018). The nurse can play some role in creating a supportive environment. One way is through offering health services at the healthcare facility. By so doing, the nurse enables the diabetes mellitus receive quality care. This improves their quality of life and longevity. Apart from the curative aspects of the disease, a nurse can also create a supportive environment that ensures preventive measures are in place. This would include having some information leaflets about diabetes in her office and issuing them to clients who visit.
Strengthening Community Actions
This stipulates that to effectively achieve success in healthcare promotion, it is necessary that the members of a community come together and confront the health challenges that they might be facing. For instance, if in a certain community there is vast use of tobacco, the community can together agree on strategies to minimise this. For that to happen, the community must become aware of the potential dangers of smoking tobacco not only to the smoker but to those around. Once, they appreciate this this they can come to a common agreement. Research has shown that community actions are very effective. The nurse can contribute to the health promotion about diabetes through this strategy. This can be done through equipping people with education about the risk factors for and management of diabetes. Such a move could be done through organized community health campaigns. Once the community understands the environmental factors that contributes to diabetes mellitus and prevention strategies, they might come together and make decisions that are for the common good (American Diabetes Association, 2014). They might also influence their leaders and policy makers to ensure healthy policies.
Develop Personal Skills
A person who is skilled at doing something is likely to do it very well. This strategy implies equipping individuals and communities with appropriate skills to enable them to attain optimal care (Rosen, 2015). An example would be proper hand washing skills. Extensive research has demonstrated that proper washing of hands with soap and water significantly reduces the chances of developing certain kinds of illnesses and infections (Baum, 2016). When it comes to the nurse, it seems that the best way to promote health about diabetes is through creation of awareness. She can do this through educating patients at the health facility about diabetes mellitus. In addition, the nurse can mobilize other healthcare professional to create awareness in the community. When a person has some knowledge regarding the condition they are likely to act in manner to promote health. For instance, the nurse could emphasize on the importance of being physically active on risk reduction for diabetes mellitus type 2 and other conditions such as obesity. With that awareness, individuals are likely to appreciate the value of physical fitness and engage themselves in regular physical exercise (Lobelo and Stoutenberg and Hutber, 2014).
Reorient Health Services
This strategy is founded on the appreciation that optimal healthcare would result if there is a harmonious cooperation between individuals, communities, healthcare facilities etc when it comes to health promotion. Every person/group should play their parts in ensuring this. A nurse can be involved in promoting health about diabetes through reorienting health services. Such practices as maintaining ethics in health care and respecting the culture and personal beliefs of a patient/client contributes to this. The patient is likely to feel cared for under such circumstances (Naidoo and Wills, 2016). The nurse should also keep themselves informed about the latest developments in the field of diabetes mellitus. As Stoddart and Evans (2017) observes, science reveals more facts as time progresses which improves the quality of care. A nurse who is offering care based on the most recent findings is likely to be more successful at offering effective care. Additionally, the nurse can carry out research relating to diabetes of mellitus. This has the potential of increasing the body of knowledge and increase health promotion.
Conclusion
Health promotion is a great way of ensuring healthy individuals. It makes people aware about health and equips them with skills necessary to achieve optimal health. There are many factors that come together to influence health. The international community is concerned about the health of all people on earth. For instance, there is an international right that entitles every person to the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing. Due to the great importance of health promotion an international conference was convened at Ottawa in 1986 to discuss the same. The aim was to achieve optimum healthcare for all persons on earth by the year 2000 and beyond. The Ottawa charter notes that for effective promotion of health, various factors affecting health should be considered. It outlined five main strategies for achieving health promotion. The five are building of health public policy, creation of environments that are supportive, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills and reorienting healthcare services.
Diabetes mellitus is a condition that involves impaired metabolism of sugar. The cases of diabetes are on the rise. It has been shown that there exists a great relationship between lifestyle practices and the risk for diabetes mellitus. As indicated in the discussion above, the nurse could play a significant role in using the five strategies of the Ottawa charter to promote health. Some of the ways they can do so is through creating awareness, influencing the making of healthy policies and carrying out research to contribute to the body of knowledge.
References
American Diabetes Association. (2014). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2014. Diabetes care, 37(Supplement 1), S14-S80.
Atlas, I. D. (2015). International Diabetes Federation, 2013. ISBN 2930229853, 7.
Baum, F. (2016). The new public health (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5). Oxford University Press.
Edelman, C. L., Mandle, C. L., & Kudzma, E. C. (2017). Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Eldredge, L. K. B., Markham, C., & Ruiter, R. (2016). Planning health promotion programs. Nursing Management, 24(7), 21-21.
Lobelo, F., Stoutenberg, M., & Hutber, A. (2014). The exercise is medicine global health initiative: a 2014 update. Br J Sports Med, bjsports-2013.
Naidoo, J., & Wills, J. (2016). Foundations for Health Promotion-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Rewers, M., & Ludvigsson, J. (2016). Environmental risk factors for type 1 diabetes. The Lancet, 387(10035), 2340-2348.
Rosen, G. (2015). A history of public health. JHU Press.
Stoddart, G. L., & Evans, R. G. (2017). Producing health, consuming health care. In Why are some people healthy and others not? (pp. 27-64). Routledge.
Whitney, E. N., & Rolfes, S. R. (2018). Understanding nutrition. Cengage Learning.
