Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

CHAPTER
24
POTENTIAL UNTAPPED:
HEALTH EDUCATION AND
HEALTH PROMOTION AS
A MEANS TO PEACE
D ANIEL L EVITON
E ven before the terrorist attack by the al Qaeda on September 11th, the Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse (famine, pestilence, disease, and death) rode high in
their saddle. Today, their threat to health is greater than ever before. The existence of
and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction make it so. Today, the United
States and its allies are in a conflict to bring to justice the murderers responsible for
September 11th. Eventually, insuring the peace and the prevention of subsequent
terrorist and similar killing events (peacekeeping) will take priority over peacemaking
(that is, ending the conflict).
This article strongly suggests that health education and health promotion (HEHP)
must contribute to peacekeeping and possibly peacemaking. With peace, health prevails.
Terrorism, war, and other forms of people - caused, preventable deaths — what I
call Horrendous Death (HD) — are antithetical to health and to peace. Peace is more
than the absence of war. It is a way of living together in social harmony enhancing the