Community Action. Nā, Trina Baggett.
What is Health Promotion
This short video from Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand (HPF) provides a description of health promotion in the Aotearoa New Zealand setting.
The triangle above shows the focus of CAYAD activities for the whole population, for those at risk and for people already affected by the problem.
An example of a population approach at a national level is the lowering of the drink driving (blood alcohol) limits. This led to immediate reductions in alcohol consumption. Another example is the zero-alcohol limit for youth, this led to immediate reductions of close to 50% in both drink driving and crashes amongst young people.
The evidence for this solution has been clear for many years, but public pressure was important to ensuring the issue also became a priority for the government.
So in CAYAD, we have a responsibility to raise community awareness of solutions that have strong supporting evidence, and to help the public generate well-informed submissions that will support effective policy change.
We also need to take a population-focused approach in our local communities. You might start with the main places where larger numbers of people in the community get together, like local sports clubs and sports fields. What could be done there to minimise the exposure of young people to excessive drinking and drug taking? Could more effort go into providing good kai, games and competitions that make it a more family-centred place, and less drinking-centred? Could the families and parents agree not to give drinks to anyone under 18? Later at night, how could you minimise harm? Could there be a roster of sober drivers and a van to get people safely home?
➡️ Next: The community action approach
This video discusses key aspects of effective Māori health Promotion - tools to help us improve Māori health outcomes.
This short video provides a brief description about public health in Aotearoa New Zealand.
A public health approach
Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. It focuses on entire populations rather than individuals. These populations can be as small as a local community or as big as an entire country or region of the world.
CAYAD aims to introduce prevention measures that will be of benefit to the whole community. In public health the impact on the health of people most at risk of harm is just as important as how wide the effect will be for the whole population.