The Planning and Implementation of Local Health Promotion

Introduction

The term health has different meanings to different people. However, the commonly used definition of health is a complete mental social and physical well-being, and it is not just the absence of infirmity or diseases. Therefore, health is a dynamic condition that occurs because of the constant adaption and adjustment of the human body to changes and stresses presented by an specific environment. Today, billions of dollars are being used all over the world in the course of ensuring human beings are healthy, and this is being done through medical interventions.  The need to have people with good health in a given economy has contributed to other means of seeking well-being including health promotions (Snelling 2014). Health promotions are defined as diseases are prevented in the efforts of addressing various health issues in a given community. Health promotions offer a solution to a variety of health issues facing society including obesity, smoking, and lack of adequate exercise among others. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate ways of planning and implementing health promotions using locally available resources to counter the rising rates of obesity among the Haringay population. Also, the paper will identify some of the most important stakeholders including public health officers, physicians, financiers, marketing agents and nurses, and the expertise or resources each of the stakeholders will provide to ensure the success of the health promotion project. The paper will also describe the role of public health staff in quality assurance, marketing, and communications and commissioning of the Haringay Obesity Alliance and some of the features of the team that will impact the delivery of services to target population positively. When conducting a health promotion, systematic and structured planning and implementation processes are important because they offer the organizers an opportunity to understand the issue to be addressed, the target population, the message and the stakeholders. 

Get your paper done on time by an expert in your field.

Learn more

Ways of Developing and Implementing Public Health Promotions Using Locally Available Resources

In the last two decades, the number of obesity cases has doubled due to changes in social and demographic factors. However, according to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2015), lack of adequate health literacy on factors contributing to rise in obesity cases, measures of prevention and control among others issues have contributed to the rise of the condition which is contributing to major health issues include diabetes, heart attack, cancer, high blood pressure among others. To address the issue of obesity among the Haringay population, the Haringay Department of Public Health developed a health promotion campaign named Haringay Obesity Alliance which was meant to come up with a single intervention to aid in addressing the issue of obesity (Haringay 2017). 

However, regardless of the need to offer Haringay population health literacy on obesity through the Haringay Obesity Alliance initiative, there were major challenges faced by the organizers. However, using Precede-Proceed Model, organizers can come up with an effective campaign to using locally available resources (Fertman & Allensworth 2010). The process of development and implementation of a health promotion campaign is one of the major challenges facing the effectiveness of the majority if the health promotion campaigns globally hence the model will aid in the identification of the main processes. Precede-Proceed model is used in development and implementation of health promotion to describe some of the factors influencing the health outcomes (Tones 2004). Also, the model offers a comprehensive structure for use in health assessment, evaluation, implementation, and design of health promotion programs. According to Precede-Proceed model, enabling, reinforcing, and predisposing factors have a significant impact on the patient’s behavior and environment (Clark 2002). Using the two phases of the models, developers are able to understand epidemiological, social, environmental, and behavioral factors associated with obesity, as well as the implementation and assessment procedures including reporting of the campaign progress on the Haringay Health and Wellbeing Board hence effectiveness in offering health literacy through the Haringay Obesity Alliance initiative (Wallace 2014). 

The Importance of Collaborative Working with Interdisciplinary Partners and Stakeholders in Health Promotion and Public Health

One of the factors contributing to the failure of the majority of health promotion programs today is the lack of adequate resources and expertise (Eldredge 2016). Therefore, to ensure effectiveness in their campaign, some of the partners and stakeholders from different backgrounds who were involved in the Haringay Obesity Alliance initiative included:

Partners and Stakeholders 

Tottenham Hotspur Foundation which is one of the active partners in the Haringay Obesity Alliance with some of the major contribution being offering financial support to the initiative. The foundation is under one of world best football clubs Tottenham Hotspur which is a team committed to using the appeal of the football and its players to change to encourage healthy lifestyle among the young people (Haringay 2017). Secondly, North Middlesex Hospital Trust was another active partner in the Haringay Obesity Alliance health promotion campaign where it offered expertise and knowledge during the campaign.  Using the expertise gained from different initiatives, they have been involved in before, North Middlesex Hospital Trust impacted the success of Haringay Obesity Alliance initiative significantly. Thirdly, Haringay Department of Public health was the main partner where it offered the Haringay Obesity Alliance programs with experts from different functions including nurses, educators, physicians, researchers among others. 

Get a brand-new guide on essay writing

Everything you need to get A+ this semester!

Get it

By continuing, you agree to the Terms And conditions and Privacy policy

The download will start within seconds. Good luck!

Download

Based on the report by Haringay Health and Wellbeing Board, the program was a success, as demonstrated by the fact that it has become a benchmark of other public health organizations offering health literacy on prevention and control of obesity (Jolley 2014). Through the program, various policies have been implemented in the borough of Haringay including the policy which restricts fast food joints from operating 400 meters from schools, the introduction of greenways to offer the Haringay residents an opportunity to participate in physical exercises among others. Some of the indicators that can be used to demonstrate the success of the Haringay Obesity Alliance programs include reduction of the number of the target population who were walking less than three times a week from 50.1% to 30.2% within the period the project was being undertaken (Haringay 2017). Also, the amount of fast food consumed in Haringay reduced by more than 19% due to increase in the number of families consuming home cooked meals due to the message from the campaign. 

Conclusion

From the above evidence, it is clear that the success of a health promotion program depends highly on the process of development and implementation. Thus, public health departments that use most appropriate models include Precede-Proceed tend to achieve their objectives and goals. For example, Haringay Obesity Alliance program’s success was based on the huge number of resources availed during the development stage by the various partners and stakeholders. However, in future, Haringay Obesity Alliance organizers will be expected to increase their digital marketing activities to reach teenagers and youths who are at the high-risk obesity.