Assessment of the implementation of health education in primary health care facilities, Kavango, East Region, Namibia

BACKGROUND: Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities are critical in preventing, detecting, and managing sickness and injury, thereby lowering morbidity and mortality. This is easily accomplished through health education, which is one of the most effective disease prevention methods. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to evaluate the implementation of the health education technique in PHC facilities in the Kavango East Region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quantitative method was used in conjunction with a descriptive cross-sectional design to evaluate the implementation of health education in PHC facilities in the Kavango East Region. RESULTS: The outcomes show that 76% of patients who visit health facilities did not receive health education about their condition, and those who did receive health education know six times more about how to prevent the conditions they are suffering from than those who did not. The study also found that 49.14% of patients got information that was irrelevant to their conditions. These results indicate a statistically significant relationship (2.32 OR 0.93 at 95% CI) between patients who did not receive health education and frequent visits to the PHC facility with the same complaints. CONCLUSION: There is a lack of health education implementation in PHC facilities, with patients not getting or being provided with relevant health education to empower them to take care of their own health. The emphasis of PHC centers is on curative services rather than preventative and rehabilitation services. PHC facilities must improve health education as a critical approach to health promotion and disease prevention. This will allow patients to take appropriate preventive measures, resulting in fewer trips to PHC facilities.