About Community Health Education

Community health involves focusing on the health needs and concerns of a specific geographic area. Whether this area be a city or a specific neighborhood, community health efforts are an important part of our society. Whether it be improving the community's ability to access health care resources or taking part in educational outreach to prevent common health issues, without a community health effort, most neighborhoods would have a dramatic drop in average life expectancy and healthy living rates.

Disease

• One of the main focuses of community health education has to do with the spread and treatment of disease. The types of diseases that are focused on change depending on the season as well as the geographical area. For example, the most common push for disease education during the winter is for the influenza virus. Along with this will usually come education campaigns for getting flu shots and how to prevent catching or spreading the flu virus. Other common community health education campaigns include the West Nile Virus and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Obesity

• Obesity is another common subject that community health education targets. This education comes in two forms: the encouragement of getting adequate amount of exercise and the focus on eating a diet full of nutritious foods from each of the food groups. This education may also be broken down into age groups to include childhood obesity and staying fit over the age of 60. Common health disorders that are normally associated with obesity may also be discussed, such as diabetes and heart disease.

Sexual Health

• Sexual health and education is another important aspect of community health. This is split into three main categories, family planning, safe sexual practices and sexually transmitted disease. Family planning will often include resources for prenatal care and information on how to have a safe and successful pregnancy. Education on safe sexual practices will often focus on safe sex aids, such as condoms and birth control pills. STD education will often focus on how diseases such as herpes and HIV are spread and how to protect yourself from contracting them.

Environmental Health

• Another area that community health education may choose to focus on is environmental health. The main areas of environmental health are pollution, water and waste management, and radon. Pollution can cause many health problems, especially to those with allergies. Community health education works to prevent pollution by sharing information on how to reduce the amount of pollution we output into the environment. Water and waste management deal with sanitation. Without access to clean water and waste management systems, disease can easily take hold in a community. It is the job of the community health teams to ensure that everyone knows how to have access to sanitary living needs. Radon is another environmental health issue that community health educators worries about. Radon is a gas that leaks through the ground rock underneath a houses foundation when radioactive elements decompose within the soil and rock. This gas can build up in a basement and cause serious health problems if not dealt with.

Addictions

• Another main area that community health education focuses on is addictions. This education starts at a very young age with teaching kids how to say no to drugs. The education expands as the child grows into a teenager and then into an adult. Community health education supplies the knowledge needed to stay away from drugs, as well as the resources on how to get treatment for those who are currently using. In some states they may also include supplies to help an addict use cleanly, such as clean needles and bleach kits. This helps to prevent the contraction of diseases that can commonly be spread through sharing dirty needles, such as HIV.