Importance of Health Education

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There has been a great deal of attention given by individuals, the media and by the government to Health Education. There is no doubt that a population which is “health literate” is significant for the sake of the “public health as a whole and consequently for public finances”(Tappe 2013) (Younghee 2013) Many countries including the U.S. have realized just how vitally this issues has become. (Younghee 2013) Sadly however, the ability understand basic health information, with or without health education, as well as access and process the services is only possessed by “50%”of the American public, resulting in the escalation or health care costs as well as poor decision making regarding health care. (Mancuso 2011) Yet the fact is that over the years at local, state, and institutional levels, health educators have been very successfully advocating to influence smoking regulations, child safety seat policies, nutrition policies, and many other health policies and regulations still a stunning “98.0%” of them report “barriers to policy activity”. (Bliss 2013) I don’t feel the Health Education issue is a government issue, however, I believe it has become one. Obesity, for example, even with all that has been studied on this issue little is actually known regarding the true underlying predictors.( Flores) And the quantity of consumers probing for health information on the Internet is extraordinary, still the proportion of users who can actually appraise the precision and dependability of the assimilated information is very small which represents a potential threat to general health. (Younghee 2013)The issue is also compounded by the fact that State and local laws and regulations for ample school health education fluctuate broadly among st... ... middle of paper ... ...ls, 36(2), 406-413. doi:10.1016/j.cct.2013.08.010 11. Ramirez, R. (2013). Pass the Change, Please: Stymieing America’s Childhood Health Crisis With Local Foods in Schools. Duke Forum For Law & Social Change (DFLSC), 5129-147. 12. Scherr, R. E., Cox, R. J., Feenstra, G., & Zidenberg-Cherr, S. (2013). Integrating local agriculture into nutrition programs can benefit children's health. California Agriculture, 67(1), 30-37. doi:10.3733/ca.v067n01p30 13. Tappe, M. K., & Galer-Unti, R. (2013). U.S. Policies for School Health Education: Opportunities for Advocacy at the Local, State, and National Levels. Health Promotion Practice, 14(3), 328-333. doi:10.1177/1524839913475624 14. Younghee, N. (2013). The Development and Performance Measurements of Educational Programs to Improve Consumer Health Information (CHI) Literacy. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), 140-154.

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