I’m suki of health education programs since time immemorial and yet upon reading this week modules, it struck me that I under no circumstances considered how the ecological perspective on health should matter for me. Thinking back, I’m too preoccupied with the idea that there’s no indication that my heart condition is shaped by environmental-sociological factors. (After further reflection, of course, this has changed.)
The module made realize that I am self-regarding and that despite my self-proclamation that I have come a long way in terms of progressive thinking, there’s still a part of me that is unconscious “individualist” in nature. In retrospect, it is hard for me to shake the idea that health should only be a personal matter as I have been long exposed to individualist approaches to health. It has always been only me that assisted myself to maneuvered my way towards healthiness. Indeed, the same view of the individualist proponents of health has long been ingrained in me since childhood: I should be the person responsible for my health.
(I’m in no circumstances indicating that the individualist approach to health is bad per se; I just think that the individualist approach alone is very restrictive.)
Indeed, health should be viewed as a responsibility of the society. We as a society must see that our actions have always been interconnected, what we do affects everyone. To be pure individualist when it comes to health would not only hurt all of us in the long run, it would also encourage the culture of indifference and apathy. To practice ecological perspective in creating health programs would not only encourage everyone to participate in making a healthy society, but it would also lessen the deep sense of alienation of the unhealthy individuals and the view of healthcare as a privileged commodity. (I have also realized that it could also pave the way to a declined respect for life)
Hence, if the point of having a society isn’t to care for each other’s wellbeing, to help everyone to survive and prosper, then literally what is the point?
UPOU Reflection blogs 