The purpose of the course is to provide participants with tools that will enable them to support both individual and community but with emphasis on the individual in the decision-making process for behaviour change.
The purpose of this module is to help students understand and determine social determinants of health, explain the scientific foundation of behaviour change, discuss the role of Health Communication / Health Education in the process of addressing health issues, describe Health Promotion strategies and approaches, and apply BBC theories and develop an HP strategy to a specific Public Health problem.
Several factors influence health-related behaviours within a community. One way to improve health of individuals and communities is to raise awareness about risks and motivate people so as to make the necessary behavior change. The media is a critical element of health promotional strategies calculated to change health risk behaviours. Instantaneously, the media reaches and influence a huge number of people. A TV station and a radio can reach millions of people smalteneousily and instantly and so is the message carried on their airwaves. The advent of social media is an additional instrumental tool.
But educating the audience about health may not be a major responsibility of those who control and manage access to the media. Hence it warrants the public health professionals to identify and seek opportunities and strategies that can promote health of the countrymen.
The course aim is to provide students enrolled in the MPH program with a theoretically informed practical overview of community work, methods for developing and facilitating solutions to public health problems, including concepts of advocacy and policy formation, presentation skills and development of community health interventions.