New Public Health Approach

2) The Ð''New Public health' approach has revolutionized the way we look at health promotion and awareness. It differs greatly from the old individualized approach but it is also similar in some ways.

Before the new public health approach of the late 70 and 80's there was a time categorized as the therapeutic era. This era encompassed a very individualized approach to health, basically, the idea was if you get sick or feel sick go to the doctor, they'll fix it, then go home. Health authorities had a superficial campaign, they gave out some information about prominent diseases and illnesses and expected the individual to act on it. It was superficial because most people didn't do anything about it, certainly not enough to put a dent in the statistics. There was practically no health promotion. Usually if you wanted to find out about a disease or illness the only place to get the information would from the doctors. Cigarette companies and alcohol companies were advertising their products and sponsoring events to encourage people to buy their stuff without giving them any indication about possible draw backs of using their product. During this era, the government became aware that incidences of health problems were ballooning as the population increased. It was costing them lots of money and they needed to do something to fix this problem.

In 1978, a conference was held by the world health organization(WHO) called the Alma Ata. The ballooning health problems were discussed and people brought back new ideas to their countries about ways to approach health promotion. These ideas sparked a new direction in health promotion which eventually led to the Ottawa Charter in 1986 and then the new public health approach.

The new public health approach in Australia was all about empowering individuals. It was all encompassing and involved both government and non-government bodies in attempting to involve communities and individuals in an ongoing process of promoting health. The government began to create policies, laws and regulations to address health concerns eg, taxation on cigarette companies, warning labels on substances that were dangerous. Medicare was introduced and advertising campaigns to create health awareness were seen more on TV, etc. The health authorities broke down the social determinant barriers that made some health services inaccessible for some. It encouraged people to get out and improve the