Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

338 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
programs. This premise is of special relevance when dealing with economically disadvantaged
groups. Health educators are challenged to promote an equitable distribution
of the resources and emphasize the value of education as an essential tool for economic
prosperity.
A third lesson I have learned is that environmental health is a core issue for health
education, not only in the United States but also around the world. Environmental pollution,
industrial contamination, lack of drinkable water, and adequate sewage disposal
are daily occurrences in many developing countries (Baffigo et al., 2001; Makutsa et
al., 2001). In developing countries health educators play an essential role in providing
guidance about environmental protection measures. As a matter of fact, due to economic
limitations, in many countries health educators may be the only healthcare personnel
with the responsibility to educate about environmental health issues. More
training for health educators is needed in the area of environmental health.
The United States needs to become an active partner in ensuring an adequate utilization
of resources and the rational use of worldwide environmental sources. At the
United Nation ’ s World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in South Africa
from August 26 to September 4, 2002, world leaders made an agreement to collaborate
in the provision of clean water for all the nations around the world, invest in
renewable energy sources, and reduce the production of harmful chemicals (United
Nations, 2002). In this effort the United States is expected to have a major commitment.
Making environmental health a priority for foreign policy in the United States is
based not only on altruistic principles, but also on a sense of self - preservation. Fox
and Kassalow (2001) described three major principles that support the need for U.S.
involvement in worldwide health issues. The first principle is that people in the United
States face growing danger from emerging diseases around the world; the second principle
is that health risks around the world affect economic and security interests in the
United States, and the third principle is that the United States has an important opportunity
and moral responsibility to participate in the creation of incentives for constructing
a healthier world population.
In my opinion, many of us living in the United States waste too much. Our houses
are beautifully decorated for the holiday season even while we use an incredible
amount of electricity; our yards are perfect, at the cost of possibly using water in an
irrational way; and we tend to waste food in the “ all you can eat buffets. ” Please don ’t
get me wrong. It is good to have luxuries; we work hard for them, but we also need to
think about the long - term implications of our actions, which are related to how we are
affecting the rest of the world. For health educators this represents a challenge. We
need to lead the way in becoming more rational users of resources and incorporating
this teaching into the academic programs for our students. Our lifestyles should be
congruent with our thoughts. In other words, health educators need to model a rational
utilization of environmental resources.
A fourth lesson I have learned is the relevance and real - life value of concepts
related to cultural competence in health education. Cross, Bazron, Dennis, and Isaacs