Health Promotion Related to Sexual Health

Taking care of our health is important as it is the center of our whole life. Our life is made up of different parts which relies on having good health, this includes physical, environmental, spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual and mental health. It is crucial for individuals to understand how to control and improve their health as well as gain knowledge of why it is important to do so, and this is delivered to the public through health promotion. This essay will be focusing on sexual health and will be exploring aspects and determinants of health, how campaigns deliver health promotion, recent statistics and figures, alongside services available.

According to WHO (1948), “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This means the condition in which your body is free from diseases, injuries and illnesses, and what state your body is currently in. As mentioned previously, health consists of physical, environmental, spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, and mental health, which contributes to an individual’s well-being, which is known as the six aspects of health. Physical health consists of exercise, a balanced diet and getting the right amount of rest, which allows the functions of the body to work more efficiently. Mental health also intertwines with emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Absence of depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders are important because if an individual suffers from this, it can have an impact on body weight, socializing, emotional state, and the function of the body. Intellectual well-being is important to help keep the brain active and stimulated. It continuously improves and helps our mindset grow, therefore helping to strengthen the brain. Environmental well-being is to be in a clean and tidy workspace without any mess or rubbish. Being in a happy and positive place will help an individual’s well-being and health. Lastly, spiritual health consists of the mind, body, and soul. This is a way in which individuals cope with pain or difficulties they are going through to help them feel peace and at ease with their life. Having a good spiritual life helps to reduce stress levels and increases positive feelings and outlooks on life.

As discussed, there are a variety of factors that combine to create health. Alongside these factors, there are also determinants of health which is known as the Rainbow Model. The Rainbow Model was created in 1991 by Goran Dahlgren and Margaret Whitehead. Individuals are the focus and the heart of the model, and then branched off are various layers which impact health. These include age, gender, culture, social and community support networks, education, living and working conditions, social and physical environments, health care services, genetics, water and sanitation. Age is one of the determinants of health linked to sexual health. Age is a period that a being or thing has lived of existed for, and unfortunately, we cannot control this. As we age, this affects our health in many ways, for example, the functioning of cells decreases, bone density decreases due to lack of calcium resulting in being at high risk of breaking bones, the immune system weakens and acts slower, and the heart and blood arteries stiffen, meaning it takes the heart longer to fill with blood. Although our health decreases with age, our sexual health improves. According to the website www.letsgetchecked.com, in 2017 there were 400 new diagnoses of STI’s in the 15-24 age group every day, and annually there were 144,000. In 2018, studies show that individuals aged between 45-64 totaled at 32,780 for the year. The cases showed that for men there were 23,943 and for women the diagnoses were 8,837. As statistics show, in 2017-2018, the largest number of STD diagnoses occurred in the age group of 15-24 years. This could be because of factors such as their location, lack of education, beliefs that all STI’s can be treated. or even the worry of being labelled by others.

At the beginning of this essay, health promotion was mentioned, but what does it mean? Health Promotion is a technique of helping individuals to expand power over, and to better their health. This is done by educating the individual about illnesses, how people contract them and how to avoid them. Governments, communities, and individuals are backed up by health promotion to deal with certain health challenges in the public. This can be promoted through the media, posters, leaflets, drop-in clinics and even workshops.

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There are many campaigns created yearly to help promote health and give advice. One of those campaigns linked to sexual health is ‘Your Sexual Health Matters’. This campaign releases different campaigns yearly to help raise awareness to individuals regarding their sexual health, promote safer sex and to provide the public with information about certain issues relating to sexual health that affects both the individual and also the wider community. The people behind this campaign and helping to run and fund it is called DCHS, which stands for Derbyshire Community Health Services. DCHS are part of the NHS Foundation Trust and they carry out multiple campaigns yearly focusing on sexual health. As well as having people run and fund the campaign, there are also a variety of partners in ‘Your Sexual Health Matters’. Partners simply means ways in which the campaign is helped to be promoted. Since the time of the coronavirus and the lockdown, partners in the campaign have become more broader than before. These include Royal Mail, the media, Durex, pharmacies, clinics, workshops, hospitals, and schools. Partners are important in a campaign, but so are the services provided to the public. ‘Your Sexual Health Matters’ campaign have a variety of services available for everyone. These include condoms by post, oral contraception (virtual assessments and prescriptions being posted out), postal emergency contraception, STI &HIV testing centers, virtual advice, photo diagnoses and online booking systems for face to face or virtual appointments.

Regarding to sexual health, a few models and theories relate to this subject, one of those is the Health Belief Model. The Health Belief Model was one of the first theories created relating to health behaviors. It was created in 1950 by phycologists that wanted to figure out why people were not participating in programs to prevent and detect diseases. The aim of this model is to motivate individuals to take actions to prevent and detect any disease or illness. The model also has factors contributing to an individual’s decision, this includes modifying factors such as age, gender, education, wealth, location, and health knowledge. The beliefs of the individual also have an impact on their actions and decisions, this includes whether the individual believes they are likely to get the disease or not, if they got the disease will it affect them much, what benefits would they gain and what are the barriers. If a test center is miles away from the individuals house, they might weigh up whether it is worth going all that distance for it or not. All these factors contribute to whether an individual takes part in programs, clinics, or testing, as they weigh up the factors as well their own beliefs regarding the illness or disease.

Lastly, the other theory that links with sexual health is called the Tannahill’s model, which was created by Downie, Fife and Tannahill in 1985. It includes 3 sectors helping to promote health which are health education, health protection and disease prevention. It is designed to help promote prevention or occurrences of disease and illnesses and focus on the final outcome and how this could be prevented, e.g., wearing a condom can prevent STI’s. Health education consists of posters, leaflets, books and media allowing individuals to gain knowledge. Lastly, protection by adhering to laws, policies and advice given out regarding the disease or illness.

In conclusion, according to the website www.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, statistics show that in 2019 there were 468,342 cases of STI’s (chlamydia), which is a 5% increase since 2018. The statistics mentioned previously for 2017 shows the increase between 2017-2019 was 324,342. Between the different age groups, figures show that between the ages of 15-24 there were a rise of 28% from 13,623-17,443. From the ages of 35-44, there were a rise of 17% from 15,462-18,134. And lastly 65 years of age or above rose by 17% from 344-402. This shows that our age is a determinant that affects our health due to various factors, as the younger age groups have higher risings than the older throughout the years. Taking all the information previously discussed, there are a lot of campaigns, theories, models and services out there to help the public gain more knowledge on what certain diseases are, how these diseases can occur, how to prevent these diseases and where to seek advice and support throughout. Without health promotion, people would not be able to learn about diseases and how to protect themselves and others from them, hence why it is so important to advertise about health.

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