Promoción de la salud y educación sanitaria

Resumen

This work aims to clarify the difference between the concepts of health promotion (HP) and health education (HE). Sometimes those terms are used interchangeably and other times they are used as different concepts. The purpose of this work is a theoretical general description to try to improve our understanding of these terms. We analyse the five principles of the WHO HP organized in three areas: (a) health protection, (b) health education, and (c) prevention of ill health. We analyse the HE within the HP and the HP itself linked to public health. We point out the main themes of health promotion: lifestyles and environmental changes, we analyse the role of HP and SE, y we consider the different models of HP, and areas of HP in the community. Finally, we point out the current horizons of SP and SE, insisting that SP should adhere to the principles of the Ottawa Charter.