Health Education in Nursing

Health education should be need based. Before involving any individual, group or the community in health education with a particular purpose. The need should be curtained, specific and relevant to the problems and available solutions. While the history of health education as an emerging profession isonly a little over one hundred years old, the concept of educatingabout health has been around since the dawn of humans. It does notstretch the imagination too far to begin to see how health educationfirst took place during pre-historic era. Some one may have eaten aparticular plant or herb and become ill. That person would then warn(educate) others against eating the same substance. Conversely,someone may have ingested a plant or herb that produced a desiredeffect. That person would then encourage (educate) others to use thissubstance.At the time of Alma Ata declaration of Primary Health Care in 1978,health education was put as one of the components of PHC and itwas recognized as a fundamental tool to the attainment of health forall. Adopting this declaration, Ethiopia utilizes health education as aprimary means of prevention of diseases and promotion of health.