CID722 Public Health

Introduction

Health communication is defined as the use of strategies of communication to make aware, influence and inform community members and individuals on the decisions that enhance to matters concerning health (Leshner & Gardner, 2011). This is in consideration to the possibility of access to internet, health literacy, and exposure to media, populations that are targeted and cultural competency. Almost everyone who has had a chance to attend school knows that health education is a matter of importance because through it people have been enlightened more about healthcare. Health does not only pertain to physical issues but also mental and emotional matters. The main objective and purpose for health education is to enhance higher levels of health literacy and also helps people to acquire skills that will assist them in maintaining good health. Therefore, health communication contains of both written and verbal strategies to empower communities, populations and individuals in making choices that are healthier. There are often more theories and models that always help in changing behaviors and attitude in health communication. The issue of obesity in children is a serious matter because it causes much harm to the body of a child in many different ways. Children suffering from obesity are most likely to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure (McCloud et al., 2020). The main objective of this assignment is to enhance mass media to inform and influence the population on obesity in children, the harm that it causes to the body and how do reduce the number of more children suffering from the disease.

Obesity In Children

Research has it that obesity is among the top leading causes of diseases. This is a condition that existed from long time ago and in the past many years obesity has been on the increase among human population. The number of children dealing with this condition has also been on the increase. Obesity in children could be caused by several reasons: inadequate knowledge on foods with a lot of calorie and family structure. It is also alarming that most families are nowadays busy and they have no time to spend on monitoring eating habits of their children and even preparing them healthy meals (Skinner et al., 2016). It is therefore clear that parents to the young ones should be held accountable for obesity in children and their actions that contributed to the same. In order to control health issues that are associated to obesity in children, there is need to work on health eating habits. Some of the health eating habits may include the following; encouraging children to take more water daily, reducing consumption of sugary drinks and avoiding much sugar, providing plenty of vegetable meals, fruits and grain products. In order to put all of these into practice, mass media is considered as necessary platform to create awareness and inform a larger population on health issues concerning obesity in children (Visscher & Kremers, 2015).

Mass Media

In the last few years there has been increased demand on health information more than the past years. In any public health situation media is considered to be an important platform because it addresses a larger population within a short period of time. For any given society to function smoothly there is need for good and effective health (Catalan-Matamoros, 2011). Mass communication contains several media platforms which include newspapers, radio, television, magazines, billboards, newspapers, social networking, books, internet and film. Media is in a position to reach many people within a shorter period of time but the audience must fast of all be willing to get accessed to media in order to acquire information that is being passed. Mass communication helps in various issues concerning health and therefore all people should be in a position to get accessed to any media platform so as to get informed (Sterin & Winston, 2017).

Importance Of Mass Media

The main objectives of mass media is to inform people, educate them on several topics and make them aware of new interventions or changes. Mass media help the health communicators to reach many target audiences within a short time and it creates a good link between health communicators and their audience. Face to face communication would require a lot of input in order to be successful and at the end of the day reach only a smaller population while mass media is the opposite (Turow, 2019). Effective communication is important on health issues because it may be critical during crises. It is during this time that media plays an important role in notifying the public on the risks of search diseases for instance obesity in children.

Suitable Mass Media In Obesity In Children Awareness

Several media platforms can promote awareness on obesity in children and give directions on how to prevent the condition; however television is more suitable in this case because it reaches many people worldwide including children. A greater percentage of people watch television compared to others platforms hence it would be helpful to create awareness via television (Cha & Chan-Olmsted, 2012).

Conclusion  

Mass is a helpful platform in communication sharing and its users are increasing daily. Health is an important field that should be managed properly and communications regarding health requirements should be communicated as fast as possible to the targeted audience in order to prevent critical conditions. People need to become aware of different diseases, their harmful effects to the body and how they can be prevented. The main objectives of mass media is to inform people, educate them on several topics and make them aware of diseases, critical conditions and new interventions and policies concerning the same that should be observed. In conclusion, this essay is about mass media and health communication. Obesity is a dangerous condition and the public needs to be informed more on disease and how to prevent it through different medias like radio, television, print media, billboards and internet. 

References

Catalan-Matamoros, D. 2011. The role of mass media communication in public health. Health Management - Different Approaches and Solutions. https://doi.org/10.5772/22790

Cha, J., & Chan-Olmsted, S. M. 2012. undefined. First Monday, 17(10). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v17i10.4049

Henten, A., & Tadayoni, R. 2010. The impact of the internet on media technology, platforms and innovation. The Internet and the Mass Media, 45-64. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446216316.n3

Leshner, G., & Gardner, E. 2011. Health communication. Communication. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0074

McCloud, R., Bekalu, M., & Viswanath, K. 2020. Health communication. Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice, 268-281. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198800125.003.0024

Paul Ehrlich and the magic bullet. 2011. Germ Theory, 235-263. https://doi.org/10.1128/9781555817220.ch12

Rock-Singer, A. 2020. Islamic print media. Islamic Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0276

Skinner, A. C., Perrin, E. M., & Skelton, J. A. 2016. Prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in US children, 1999-2014. Obesity, 24(5), 1116-1123. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.21497

Sterin, J. C., & Winston, T. 2017. Mass media. Mass Media Revolution, 31-60. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315311814-2

Sunil, & Ojha, N. 2018. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in library: Advantages and issues. 2018 2nd International Conference on Inventive Systems and Control (ICISC). https://doi.org/10.1109/icisc.2018.8398996

Turow, J. 2019. Understanding mass media, convergence, and the importance of media literacy. Media Today, 2-28. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429489235-1

Visscher, T. L., & Kremers, S. P. 2015. How can we better prevent obesity in children? Current Obesity Reports, 4(3), 371-378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-015-0167-6

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