Access to Health Services

Health Promotion and Primary Prevention

Health promotion refers to the process whereby people are enabled or equipped with ways of increasing control and improvement over their health. The approach provides services to the entire population in the society apart from the individuals who are suffering from certain diseases, and the main focus is always to determine the techniques of living a healthy lifestyle. Consequently, families are often encouraged to concentrate on the strategies and behaviours that promote optimal health for them. Primary prevention refers to all the actions which are aimed at making people avoid the manifestation of diseases. They may include clinical preventive services like immunization and vaccination against certain diseases, dental and oral hygiene education, provision of healthy living education and also risks among others. Primary prevention and health promotion are essential to health care because they play a role in preventing people from getting diseases or infections that could have been avoided by taking preventive measures (“Role of the Nurse in Preventative Health Care,” 2018).

Importance of Accessibility to Health Services

Furthermore, access to health services is essential in preventing, managing and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, it makes access to health services an objective which is vital for health promotion and primary prevention because preventive and promotional strategies can be implemented if health services are accessible to every individual in the society. Hence, the paper will discuss the importance of accessibility to health services to the implementation of relevant health strategies in a community or society (“Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020,” n.d.).

Background and Discussion

Access to health care services is an essential approach towards promoting preventive health strategies. Health care services or facilities are equipped to educate the people on how to live a healthy life, hence, promoting healthy living which leads to the prevention of certain diseases. Additionally, one having access to healthcare services means that people, especially children will have access to primary preventive measures like immunization, thus, preventing them from getting diseases later on in the future.

Additionally, healthcare services are essential to clients and any community, thus, they should be readily available. However, there are often some barriers that lead to people not being able to access these services. These barriers include high costs of health care services, lack of insurance covers, lack of required services and lack of care. Location, race, social status, age, sex, and the disability status of a person also play a huge role when it comes to the access of healthcare services (“Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020,” n.d.). Subsequently, the community leaders should play a significant role when planning for these services because they know what the community is going through, their financial status and the kind of services that they need. Without their involvement, then there will be a situation where there are expensive services that are not being used because people cannot afford them. Access to health care services is essential for any community or client because it is a much cheaper option compared to treating a disease that could have been prevented if the client or community had accessible healthcare services (Peter et al., 2008).

Role of Nurses

Moreover, nurses play an essential role in the provision of these services because they must provide information and counselling to the client and communities, thus, encouraging a positive and healthy living. Nurses often give immunizations which play a significant role in preventing the onset of diseases and educate clients on a healthy life. Therefore, nurses can implement public education and vaccination as preventive strategies to ensure the promotion of healthy living among the clients or communities.

Conclusion

Health promotion involves the promotion of healthy living and primary prevention is the taking of necessary steps to prevent the onset of diseases for example through immunization. Access to healthcare is essential in promoting healthy life and prevention of conditions. However, there are some barriers to access to health services, and these include the high cost of health care. However, community leaders can come in handy in solving problems with healthcare access hence they should be used in the planning of these services. Therefore, for effective health promotion and primary prevention of diseases, access to health services is an aspect that is essential.

References

Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services

Peters, D. H., Garg, A., Bloom, G., Walker, D. G., Brieger, W. R., & Rahman, M. H. (2008). Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136(1), 161-171.

The Role of the Nurse in Preventative Health Care. (2018, February 16). Retrieved from https://online.ben.edu/programs/msn/resources/role-of-nurse-preventative-health-care