Costas G Dikeos
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Title: Health prevention and health promotion via the lens of political science: A private or societal issue?
Biography
Biography: Costas G Dikeos
Abstract
Health Promotion and Health Prevention are important factors in health care and therefore health care policy, politics and management. They assist in (a) achieving a healthy that is sound and robust life and (b) cost reduction. However, critique has been raised against health promotion as an individual (-istic) matter as it has to do with personal behaviour and attitudes (exercise, diet, smoking), whereas social issues and choices of political factors (infrastructure, working conditions, access to primary care, spare time enough for exercise, access to information concerning promotion etc.) may prevail as causes of illness, whilst these causes are socio-political. Similar points may be raised against health prevention mainly in the form of primary prevention as far as individual(-istic) choices in life-style are under question (possibly leading towards libertarian ideology), and secondary prevention as far as health-care infrastructure and services and accessibility to them are under question.
Therefore, we need to follow at least two paths:
a. Health promotion and health prevention in view of general social inequalities and inequalities in health in particular (e.g. ‘Black Report’ 1979, ‘Health Inequalities’ Davey-Smith 2003, and ‘Inequalities in Health’ Gordon et al) and
b. Health promotion and health prevention in view of more theoretical approaches examining them as a matter between libertarian and socialist political theory and argumentation and neo-liberal and social-democratic policy options (e.g. J. S. Mill’s classical works, ‘Health Medicine and Society’ by Kennedy and Kennedy 2010, ‘Major Thinkers in Welfare’ by Vic George 2010, alongside key works of Pinker and Titmuss).