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Book Review ‘Health Promotion’

Uqbah Iqbal^1*

¹Managing Director, Pitas Agriculture, Kampung Mempakad Darat, 89100 Pitas, Sabah, Malaysia.

Introduction

It is hoped that this health promotion reference book can be a guide for educators, practitioners, and the public to recognize, study, and understand the basic concepts of health promotion in a broad scope. This reference book is also equipped with summaries and practice questions to maximize the reader's understanding and help them become more knowledgeable and applicable in carrying out health promotion efforts in every setting. This book can be of great benefit in improving understanding of the concept of health promotion. The aim of health promotion is to improve individuals’ abilities, families, groups, and communities to be able to live healthily, develop community-based health efforts, and create a conducive environment to encourage the formation of these abilities (1). Efforts to realize health promotion can be made through good strategy. Strategy is a method used to achieve the desired goals in health promotion as a support for other health programs, such as environmental health, improving community nutritional status, eradicating infectious diseases, preventing non-communicable diseases, and improving maternal and child health and health services (1).

                Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental conditions, behavior, and biological factors can influence a person's health. Health promotion seeks to change these conditions so that they become conducive to public health through advocacy. This advocacy activity can not only be carried out by health workers but can also be carried out by the target community and policymakers from various levels or sectors related to health. The aim of this activity is to convince policymakers that the health program that will be carried out is important and necessary to support the policy or decision of the official. Health promotion also has a mission as a mediator or bridge between the health sector and other partner sectors. This is because the factors that influence health are not only the responsibility of the health sector. Health promotion requires joint efforts from all parties, including the government, the health sector, the economic sector, non-profit institutions, industry, and other media. In other words, health promotion is glue partnerships in the field of health services. Partnership is very important because, without a partnership, the health sector will not be able to handle complex and broad health problems. Health promotion is responsible for mediating various interests from various sectors that are involved in improving the health status of the community.

              Health promotion strategies and programs must consider local needs and allow various sectors, both regionally, nationally, and internationally, to be involved in it. Health promotion focuses on justice and equal distribution of health resources for all levels of society. This includes making sure everyone in society has an environment conducive to behaving healthily, having access to the information needed for their health, and having the skills to make decisions that can improve their health status. The principle of health promotion here is that people can have control of determinants that can influence their health. In accordance with the vision of health promotion, namely willingness and ability to maintain and improve health, health promotion has the main mission of empowering society. This means that health promotion activities must be able to provide skills to the community so that they are able to be independent in the field of health, both directly or through community figures. It's known together that health is influenced by many factors outside of health, such as social, educational, economic, and so on. Therefore, people's skills in the economic sector (agriculture, animal husbandry, and plantations), education, and other social activities also need to be developed through health promotion to empower the community in the health sector. In conclusion, this Health Promotion Book provides information about various aspects of health promotion from various scientific fields.

                  Each chapter in this book briefly explains the section from the field of science relating to the implementation of health promotion efforts. This book was prepared using various reference sources and packaged in language that is easy for the public to understand regarding health promotion. This book is different from other books on the market because it straightforwardly summarizes various topics related to health promotion efforts in various settings. Material about education, counseling, methods and media, sociological anthropology, psychology, learning concepts, and behavior in health are some of the materials from the 11 chapters in this book. At the end of this book, practice questions are also provided to measure the reader's understanding of the information that has been presented. This book can be a reference for readers who require information about health promotion, but it is presented in a straightforward and concise manner with language that is easy to understand.

1. Ira Nurmala, Fauzie Rahman, Adi Nugroho, Neka Erlyani, Nur Laily & Vina Yulia Anhar. (2018). Promosi Kesehatan. Surabaya: Airlangga University Press.

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