On the occasion of the celebration of the first decade of the Holguin Prosalud Department this January 30, Dr. Maria del Rosario Hernandez Diaz (Charo), a member of this team, admits to having dedicated more than three decades to the promotion of health in Holguin.
How are Holguín Prosalud professionals celebrating their first decade?
“For the celebration of this anniversary, a broad plan of activities was created and carried out by the Basic Health Teams in the doctor’s offices, in the health areas and in the municipalities. In each structurea, different activities were proposed to be carried out on the occasion of the date to make their work more visible.
“Prosalud was the name adopted by the Department of Health Promotion and Education and Disease Prevention.
Hence, with the change of name, many people do not identify it. Activities were developed in several polyclinics in the province, Velasco – municipality of Gibara -, Alex Urquiola and Alcides Pino – in Holguin city – to commemorate World Leprosy Day.
“This January 30, different activities took place such as a special morning meetings and training in educational centers in the health area.
Special morning meetings and training in schools in the health area of Pedro del Toro and a community activity with a grandparents’ club and in the community of Villa Nueva Two, with the participation of elderly people, the community and Renacer community project of the Federación of Cuban Women.
In the municipality of Báguanos, together with the Culture House, some activities have been carried out with great impact on the communities.
We also learned about activities in Caribe neighborhood in Moa, and in general all across the province to salute this anniversary”.
How many years have you dedicated to health education and promotion?
“I have been doing it for 36 years because the most important job that a physician has in a doctor’s office is health promotion and education. I graduated 36 years ago, I was a family physician for 12 years and the rest of my time
I was involved in health education activities, in the promotion of breastfeeding, changing lifestyle habits.
How much has the department evolved to reach its tenth anniversary?
“There has been a lot of progress in the fact that the population has acquired a significant amount of knowledge, in terms of self-care, the responsibilities that they have to assume, where the person is the one who is responsible for his or her own health. Although much has been achieved, we still need to to achieve greater action by community groups, in the communities, according to their health problems.
“The challenge is to promote healthy and active communities, a pillar of our work this year, which can be can be achieved through intersectoriality.
What other health promotion activities will occupy Prosalud’s attention in the immediate future?
“We are going to dedicate our greatest efforts to a big day thatwill be held initially from February 4 to 15, for the World Cancer Day, a disease that occupies one of the first causes of death in the province and in Cuba.
“For this we need a change in lifestyles because cancer cannot be dealt with by doing what has been done up to now. We will focus on the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and including diabetes, hypertension and risk factors such as alcoholism and smoking. In addition to community work to declare communities for health”.
The task of promotion is as vital for the health sector as communication is for the media. This is not an easy task given the complex epidemiological scenarios and the health problems that most affect the province. For many it may seem a specialty located in the background, in relation to others, but its relevance has been more than proven.
Undoubtedly, much work remains to be done in the future to make the population aware of how prevention is the key to minimize the impact of health problems. Although Dr. Charo is not the only figure in this area -because results depend on teamwork- with her knowledge, experience and desire to do more in favor of community health, she promotes and dignifies her work. May this be a way of recognizing the work of all those who have contributed to obtain such results.
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