The conductance of the United Nations General Assembly in the year 2015, witnessed the creation of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’, which aimed to establish principles for the enhancement of the health of the global population along with the initiation of developmental achievements at an international level within the year 2030 (Lu et al., 2015). Further, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China, along with the World Health Organization, organized the 9th Global Conference on Health Promotion on 21st November 2016. Here, the global governmental leaders, health professionals and United Nations members, settled to an agreement to work cooperatively for the achievement of sustainable development through the removal of global poverty and effective promotion of health (Fortune et al., 2018).
The following critical commentary aims to critically view the involvement of efficient health promotion tactics for the achievement of optimum sustainable development on a worldwide platform. The following paragraphs aim to shed light on the important role of health promotion in achievement of sustainable development along with the challenges required to overcome for future fulfillment and sustenance. The commentary ends on the available opportunities which will aid in the mitigation of these hurdles along with a reflective on current knowledge required as a health promotion practitioner for the contribution of sustainable development through effective national community efforts.
Hence, this critical commentary chooses to argue that usage of optimum health promotion strategies play a key role in global sustainable development.
According to Mendes, Plaza and Wallerstein (2016), the principles of health promotion imply effective dissemination healthcare information to individuals, with the aim to empower them to undertake control for the achievement of their optimum health status (Mendes, Plaza & Wallerstein, 2016). The global Sustainable Development Goals had been formulated with the idea to drive international development through the establishment of interconnected relationships across governments and institutions from across the world. Effective health promotion strategies supplement this achievement through educating and empowering governments and citizens to formulate effective health policies which will lead to a fulfilling and health life status (Schmidt, Gost & Emanuel, 2015).
Health promotion strategies are effective methods to fulfill sustainable development goals, through the conductance of the following activities.
As opined by the World Health Organization, ‘health literacy’ refers to the education and knowledge acquired by an individual concerning the usage and confidence to utilize appropriate healthcare and lifestyle strategies for optimum self and community health status (Sørensen et al., 2015). Hence, according to McCormack et al., (2017), greater health knowledge empowers individuals to improve health resource usage but also accessibility. This further contributes to the sustainable development through reduction of poverty, community hunger, improvements in education, engagement in employment, enhanced industrial innovation, equity in healthcare and overall peaceful working of institutions (McCormack et al., 2017). Health literate people will exhibit lower levels of poverty due to their knowledge to use available health resources effectively. Higher health literacy will educate people to interpret nutrition information adequately leading to healthier food choices associated with reduction of under as well as over nutrition. Health literacy improves education through improvement of accessibility to health and nutrition education (de Andrade et al., 2015). Also, according to Nilsson, Griggs and Visbeck (2016), health literacy improves employment opportunities through maintenance of optimum health as well as imparting information to individuals concerning the health impacts of various occupational environments. This will not reduce inequities to health care resources but also lead to emergence of industries which aim to provide health services to the community. Hence, lastly, optimum health literacy grants citizens greater accountability to governments compelling such institutions to work actively for the health and sustainable development of the population (Nilsson, Griggs & Visbeck, 2016).
The principles of inclusive governance, as stated by the United Nation Development Program, imply that governmental institutions shall formulate policies and frameworks which will be accessible to all and free of discrimination, irrespective of a citizen’s race, gender, ethnicity, physiological and psychological conditions, as well aim to allow participation of every individual for the purpose of undertaking decisions at the federal level (Arts, 2017). As stated by Brooks and Fairfull (2017), the Health Department of the Australian Government has adopted culturally diverse workplace environments which will not only induce aboriginal inclusion and participation, but also lead to improved health implications (Brooks & Fairfull, 2017). According to Gupta and Vegelin (2016), the health promotion activities outlining and inclusive governance will support the achievement of a peaceful and just institution (16th Sustainable Development Goal), equality in genders (5th Sustainable Development Goal) and optimum wellbeing and health of the global community (3rd Sustainable Development Goal) (Gupta & Vegelin, 2016).
For the effective implementation of health promotion activities aiming to achieve sustainable development, the need of the hour is to establish a health environment which can only be achieved through the political inclusion of health (Kieny et al., 2017). As stated by Pinto et al., (2015), for sustainable development through health promotion, governments now seek to integrate a ‘Health in all Policies’ approach, which necessitate the need to consider the health consequences of policies, achievement of synergistic health strategies, possibilities of harmful impacts on health which will ultimately lead to the achievement of sustainable goals of population health and well being along with maintenance of equality for all. Governments often seek to promote health through the usage of health advocacy policies aiming to represent marginalized groups and implementation of fiscal policies such as provision of subsidies and taxes associated with procurement of health-oriented products and services (Pinto et al., 2015).
As observed by Senot, Chandrasekaran and Ward (2016), for the achievement of optimum health promotion, the usage of a team consisting of medical professionals possessing expertise in various clinical fields is of utmost importance. Considering the role of dynamic factors such as lifestyle stresses, unhealthy dietary and activity levels along with genetic malformations, diseases of the present world now present themselves with a multitude of symptoms which require the involvement of a cross-disciplinary approach comprising of various medical professionals in the clinical infrastructure (Senot, Chandrasekaran & Ward, 2016). As seen in the instances of global obesity management, the usage of a multi-disciplinary approach concerning collaboration of nutritionists, fitness experts, psychologists and even community health workers, have proven to promote the health and wellbeing of individuals, hence indicating the achievement of a sustainable development goal (Hors-Fraile et al., 2018).
According to Batras, Duff and Smith (2016), the creation of a ‘healthy setting’ is of utmost importance for the achievement of effective public health promotion strategies. The approach of ‘healthy settings’ implies the provision of effective policies aimed to achieve health education, as well as identify the determinants of the health of the public. Such approaches inspire and empower individuals to undertake effective health information and strategies in order to gain control of their health (Batras, Duff & Smith, 2016). Decentralization refers to the dissemination of such policies and associated participation at the local or grass root level. Present day health promotion still requires further improvement as local systems have still been devoid of appropriate health promotion or ‘healthy settings’. This is evident in the rising food democratic movement of Australia, where farmers and local agricultural groups are actively advocating their deprivation from governmental healthcare and food production services (Larder, Lyons & Woolcock, 2014).
According to Tretheway et al., (2015), the success of health promotion lies in its dissemination of health improvement activities towards every section of the population irrespective of their race, gender or ethnic diversities. However, citizens belonging to the remotely located or socially and economically underprivileged groups continue to be deprived from their right to equitable health resources and treatment services (Tretheway et al., 2015). This is prevalent in the indigenous population scenario of Australia, where aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups continue to be deprived from appropriate health and medical facilities due to their origins of belonging to socially disadvantage groups, resulting in greater incidences of mortality and disease prevalence as compared to non-indigenous groups (McFarlane et al., 2017).
Successful health promotion requires effective usage of policies and programs which aim to improve the health of the community through appropriate usage of advocacy, proactive political participation, appropriate taxation and the implementation of effective subsidiary principles. However, policies still present considerable gaps and shortcomings, often in the form of an absence of management strategies during occurrence of health hazards or disease strategies (Simovska et al., 2016). Often policy gaps are prevalent in the form of miscommunication or disagreements between various political parties or governmental departments. In the situation of Australia, a lack of inequity of health resources for indigenous, aboriginal groups continues to be a prevalent policy shortcoming in the health promotion of the nation (de Leeuw, 2017).
According to Flood et al., (2015), the dynamic principles outlining organizational functioning at present, requires to usage of a number of skills and capabilities for the successful functioning of the health promotion infrastructure. Such skills include the usage of effective leadership strategies along with adherence to adequate diplomacy and negotiating principles, which often are absent or inadequate in the health professionals recruited for the purpose of dissemination of health promotion (Flood et al., 2015). While health promotion principles continue to provide an all-inclusive, holistic and multidisciplinary solution to achieve sustainable development, the fulfillment of the same may still required increased integrated performance of additional disciplines such as communications, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics in behavior and design. Hence, the financial and infrastructural implications of such improvements often end up being major challenges for the promotion of appropriate health literacy and healthcare education (Jolley & Barton, 2015).
Despite the prevalence of several shortcomings in its existing health promotion policies, there still lie opportunities for Australia resulting in improvement and achievement of the sustainable development goals. The major shortcoming of present health promotion policies and programs is the lack of inequity in health resources resulting in reduced health literacy and health promotion especially amongst the indigenous and aboriginal groups (Mellor et al., 2016). This can be achieved through exercising opportunities of cultural competency and workplace diversity policies. Hence, recruitment of employees who also belong to such sections will encourage greater advocacy and reach towards indigenous populations, who may not be comfortable to interact with non-indigenous health professionals (Garneau & Pepin, 2015). The emerging movements of food sovereignty and food democracy in Australia are increasingly presenting opportunities for health promotion decentralization, through increased participation of local farming groups and food producing populations. Such health promotion activities can be observed in the performance of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance which aims to promote the health and wellbeing of local farming and food producing groups through the development of a ‘People’s Food Plan’ which aims at improving health literacy for improved dietary choices including consumption of natural foods and equitable policy distribution especially concerning fair trade policies, decentralization as a response to retail strongholds as well as availability of better quality food resource and food production equipment (Davila & Dyball, 2015). Australia is still undergoing the usage of specific health promotion policies, as evident in the active participation of key organizations and governmental efforts. One of the most actively engaged organizations is the Australian Health Promotion Association, which serves to be the sole institute aiming to garner the support and aid of individuals who are display active interest in studying the principles of health promotion along with effective practicing, researching and formulation of policies. The organizations actively engages in the development of public health policies concerning health promotion, and aims to revise and improve its activities through conductance of the Australian Health Promotion Association National Conference (Brown et al., 2014). Hence, through the effective utilization of such activities, there lies a possibility for achievement of sustainable development goals, through the usage of effective health promotion strategies which will result in the fulfillment of equality, health and wellbeing, education, improved employment, efficient institutional functioning and peaceful functioning of governmental organizations.
Conclusion
Hence, to conclude, it can be successfully argued that the usage of timely, appropriate and effective health promotion strategies will prove to be highly beneficial in the achievement of global sustainable development goals. The principles of Sustainable Development Goals were established by the United Nations with the aim to initiate development at an international level as well as improve the health of the global population through eradication of poverty, improvement of citizen’s health and wellbeing, equal distribution of resources, gender equality and the functioning of a just, peaceful government. Health promotion activities can effectively aid in the fulfillment of these goals by increasing health literacy amongst individuals, which will inspire and empower them to gain control of their own health and utilize information efficiently concerning the credibility of existing health policies. Health promotion also aids individuals in gaining greater accessibility and accountability towards their governments, hence empowering national institutions to engage actively in the development of policies which will promote health and lead to the achievement of sustainable development goals. Hence, this critical commentary essay argues successfully that health promotion will lead to achievement of sustainable development goals.
For ensuring successful health promotion across communities, health practitioner play an important role as they actively work to fulfill the required health goals, through the initiation of effective communication across relevant stakeholders and associated health promoting parties. For the optimum functioning of health practitioners involved in health promotion activities, adherence to the IUHPE Core Competencies and Professional Standards is of utmost importance. The standards aim to deliver the required criteria for the adequate fulfillment of community and national health promotion goals (Iuhpe.org, 2018).
In accordance to the Core Competency Standard, I believe that as a health practitioner, I should engage in the standard of effective communicative skills for the purpose of initiating successful cooperation amongst communities for the fulfillment of health promotion. I must possess adequate knowledge about the diverse ethnical and cultural practices present in my country as well as amongst the associated communities, as a prerequisite to further engage in appropriate interpersonal communication skills at the verbal, written and listening platforms, for my fulfillment of the standard of cultural appropriateness in health promotion. I must also possess adequate knowledge of appropriate social media technology, which will further help me to advocate the required health promotion policies by rapidly reaching out to wide range of citizens. Lastly, for fulfilling the competency standard of effective communication skills, I must be significant knowledge of health literacy since this will enhance in my skills of working effectively in communities consisting of diverse cultural and ethnical populations.
The additional competency standard which I will need as health practitioner is the engagement of various partners as well as establishment of significant partnerships amongst the various stakeholders in health promotion through usage of collaborative working principles. This will require me to possess adequate knowledge concerning mediating, networking, resolution of conflict, facilitation, negotiation and principles of intersectoral partnership, which will help me to engage the various stakeholders involved in the facilitation of health promotion activities across the communities.
The next competency standard which I must follow as a health practitioner is the usage of effective strategies and techniques concerning advocacy which will not only impart awareness about health promotion activities across communities, but will also attempt to modify the opinion of citizens concerning the importance of health and well-being promotion. For the fulfillment of this standard I will required to posses adequate knowledge about the implementation of various theories of community development which includes efficient building of capacity, motivating citizens to participate in health activities along with empowering individuals to undertake effective health promotion strategies.
Lastly, as a health practitioner, I must also maintain a standard of facilitation of the developing my own personal skills as well as that of others, for the purpose of maintenance and improvement of health and well being. For this, I must possess adequate knowledge concerning various behavioral theories which will help to modify, change or improve existing skills of health promotion in myself as well as in those belonging to other communities. I must also possess knowledge of various ethnicities and cultures in order to facilitate such changes in cultural diverse communities.
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