Comparing and Contrasting between Health Promotion and Health Education - Essay Example

On the other hand, health promotion "seeks to improve or protect health through behavioural, biological, socio-economic and environmental changes. It can include health education, personal services, environmental measures, community and organisational development, and economic and regulatory activities" (Catford and Nutbeam, 1984). Thus, the authors view health promotion as being inclusive of health education, with the scope of health promotion being wider. Seymour (1984) defines health promotion as the "positive pursuit of fitness and wellbeing by means of a whole range of activities, including health education, legal and environmental controls and influence on social and economic factors" (37).

Accordingly, from the practitioner's point of view, health promotion and health education overlap in many, if not all respects. Seymour further points out that the differences between the two are not of content However, the definition stated above has two utilities, in that it prevents "sterile discussions" about what is education and what is not, and helps clearly demarcate activities requiring expertise of different nature. MacDonald (1996) has elaborated upon the philosophical differences between health education and promotion. . Thus, health promotion " involves a radical political stance in which discussion of, health matters requires a heightened level of awareness and critical consciousness, e.g. awareness of women's health issues" (220).

Program Proposal: Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Elementary School ChildrenBackground The health promotion program proposed here is inspired by the success of the CATCH program (Luepker, Perry, McKinlay, Nader, Parcel, Stone, Webber, Elder, Feldman, and Johnson, 1996). The mission statement, goals and objectives are modified from those used in the CATCH program, and a focussed target of elementary schools within a well-defined local area is assumed.Mission StatementThe aim of this program is to introduce a wide range of activities in elementary schools which are geared towards the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease among students in the third through fifth grade.

Program Goals Food Service Modifications The first goal of the proposed program is to induce changes in the lunch offerings at cafeteria of elementary schools within the target area, so as to meet USDA requirements (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2000). The four program objectives of this goal are as follows:1. Lunches provided at all elementary schools in the target area will meet the USDA requirement of a minimum energy level of 664 kcal2. Of this, the fat content shall not exceed 30% of the total calorific content3.

The meal shall consist of not less than 10g of protein, 286mg of calcium, 3.5mg of iron, at lease 224 retinol equivalents of vitamin A and at lest 15mg of vitamin C.4. At the end of a 3 year evaluation period, the measured dietary intake of fat among children of the