Bulletin Winter 1975

independent character and responsible personality. Q . How do you, as Director of the University Health Service, promote health education within the University? A. To answer your question, let us first look at the objective of Health Education. In my opinion, the primary objective of education on health is not merely to impart knowledge bu t to try to influence the persons' behaviour so that it becomes characterized by sound decision and practices on matters affecting their own health and that of others. Conventionally, health education is taken to mean the provision of more and better information abou t health problems. This conception is based on the assumption that the student is a rational being guided in his action by what he knows. Therefore, provision of health information is presumed sufficient to induce students to act intelligently where their health is concerned. It is not surprising that efforts spent in such manners yield only small dividends. In order to promote health education with any degree of effectiveness withi n the University I think it is important to integrate elements of health education into various components of the health service programme . In other words, health educational efforts should permeate through every staff-student contact at the Health Centre. Broadly speaking the following serve as my working guidelines i n the promotion of health education. (1) Emphasis must be upon helping the students learn how to think, not what to think. (2) Effective, realistic health education programmes can be developed and maintained in viable forms only when the recipient is invited to participate actively in planning, presenting and evaluating such programmes. (3) Health instructions should not be restricted to specific courses, or fragmented into still smaller subject areas such as smoking, sex education and so forth, but should be infused into other related curriculum areas whenever possible. Education, biology, journalism and sociology are but a few examples of studies or disciplines whic h will be enriched by introducing a conscious concern for health. (4) Furthermore, health education should help to relate individual concerns to broader social issues such as housing, population, family planning, pollution control etc. and should sensitize individuals to their responsibilities as students, citizens and future leaders of the community. (5) Efforts should be initiated and directed to equipping health practitioners with requisite education skills, which appear to be generally lacking in those presently called upon to undertake thi s highly challenging responsibility. Q. Looking ahead, what will be the main thrust of future development? A. The development of the Health Servic e will proceed in accordance with established orders of priority and will endeavour to keep in step with the actual needs of the University, subject to adequate resources being available in time as planned. Existing services will of course be improved and expanded. These include health education and counselling, mental health service, dental health service and emergency care. Other services to be introduced include specialist care—to provide the necessary backup service through the appointment of a panel of Honorary Visiting Consultants in various specialities; environmental health and safety— to provide a positive programme for identifying environmental hazards, both physical and emotional, and maintaining effective surveillance and control; x-ray service—to provid e on-campus x-ray facilities for simple radio- diagnostic procedures : and sports medicine— to provide preventive and therapeutic services for athletes and other high-risk groups. Above all, future development will be dependent on the timely provision of:- (1) the building of an extention to the University Health Centre and nurses quarters, (2) the recruitment of additional professional personnel, and (3) the installation of additional facilities . It is hoped that we may be given adequate resources to get on with the job of developing a comprehensive health programme to meet the needs of the rapidly growing University community. 20