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Healthcare Tips
Protect Yourself
Taking some basic precautions can help you lessen your risk
for
potentially serious diseases
Take a daily multivitamin.
A 100% RDA
multivitamin will help
you
make sure you’re getting all the vitamins you need to
stay healthy. For women of childbearing age, a vitamin with
folate also helps prevent serious neural-tube birth defects.
Cover up in the sun.
You can limit your
risk of getting skin
cancer by avoiding excessive exposure and limiting your
time in the sun. Wear a hat and sunglasses and use a
sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15. Avoid sun lamps and
tanning booths.
Wash your hands.
Frequent washings
of at least 15 seconds
(about the time it takes to sing one chorus of the “Happy
Birthday” song) will help fight germs. Keep antibacterial hand
sanitizer around for times when there’s no soap and water.
Avoid sick people.
When you have a
choice, stay away from
people who are sick. And don’t give your germs to others; if
you
or a family member is sick, stay home from work, school
and
activities.
Get your annual flu shot.
Though not a 100
percent guarantee,
a
flu shot or nasal spray is your best protection against
influenza. While flu shots are recommended for everyone, they
are
especially imperative for those age 65 and older, residents
of
nursing homes or care facilities, and adults or children with
chronic diseases. Anyone with significant exposure to the
public, such as teachers or retail service workers, should also
be
inoculated.
Eating healthy involves making healthy choices. Here are a few
simple suggestions to improve your eating habits.
•
Use fat-free or 1% milk instead of whole or 2%.
•
Drink water or diet soda instead of regular carbonated or
sweetened beverages.
•
Eat fruit instead of sugary desserts.
•
Use whole-grain options for bread, pasta and rice.
•
Replace butter or hard margarines with oils low in saturated
and
high in monounsaturated fats.
•
Snack on fruits and vegetables instead of highly processed,
high-fat, high-calorie “junk” food.
•
Grill or roast food instead of frying.
•
Eat a healthy breakfast every day.
Fresh ginger
with a small amount of salt should be taken 10 to 20 minutes before
food.
-
The diet, especially hard substances
should be properly chewed.
-
Wherever possible intake of curd or
buttermilk should follow food.
-
The food should be tasty, fresh and
good in appearance.
-
It should neither be very hot nor
absolutely cold.
-
Water should be avoided at least 15
minutes before food. The quantity of water after food should be
small. Let it be drunk often.
-
Heavy (Guru) food should be taken in
a limited quantity.
-
Heavy food should not be taken at
night. The proper time of night meal is two to three hours before
going to bed. After night meal, it is better to go for a short
walk, of say hundred steps.
-
Heavy work or exercise should be
avoided after food.
-
After meals, heavy mental or
physical work should be avoided. Some rest is advisable for proper
digestion of food.
As infant and child health, nutrition programmes and immunisation appeared as ‘good buys’ compared to
hospital care and such interventions could avert a large population
of deaths. The Bamako Initiative in Benin and Guinea demonstrate
that even in resource-poor settings, it is possible to implement and
sustain basic PHC services.
Thus, it is evident that the success
of health systems exists in tapping the existing potential and
making appropriate structural changes. The role of primary care
should not be defined in isolation but in relation to the
constituents of the health system.
Primary, secondary, generalist and
specialist care, all have important and inclusive roles in the
healthcare system and should be used to create a comprehensive and
integrated model; one that combines universalism and economic
realism with the objective of providing coverage for all |
