Health Promotion

Promoting health and wellness within a community is one of the responsibilities of a nurse. First of all, what do we mean by community? In simple definition, a community is a group of people or a population usually defined by geographic boundary. So, what makes a community healthy? Well, a healthy community is where a visible commitment to achieve health and wellbeing, and most importantly, it must be sustainable. The key to community health is quality and equality of sharing and caring that occurs in the community. According to WHO, essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at the cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self- reliance and self determination. Health care services should respond to the needs of the population with openness to the community. It should be structured in a way to allow community members to make informed choices. It should also be developed to maintain or increase peoples control over their own health.