Community Health Promotion and
Education
Health promotion and education are
an integral part of STD intervention ac¬
tivities. Broadly defined, the term
health promotion encompasses five
strategic areas: advocating safer public
policy, providing environments condu¬
cive to safer behaviors, strengthening
community action, promoting healthier
personal skills (by providing informa¬
tion, education, and counseling), and
orienting health services toward meet¬
ing all health needs. Health promotion
thus involves health education directed
to both society as a whole and the indi¬
vidual. Individual patient health educa¬
tion, person-to-person counseling, and
partner notification have been dis¬
cussed earlier. We will focus on two as¬
pects of community health education—
schools and media, and the role of com¬
munity-based organizations.