Health education plays a pivotal role in improving community well-being by promoting knowledge and healthy practices across all age groups, addressing a wide range of health issues from chronic diseases to mental health and influencing policy and economic outcomes.
When it comes to creating a thriving community, health education is an integral part. Community health workers collaborate with all stakeholders in a community — from its citizens to its government, education and medical officials — to improve health and wellness and ensure equal access to healthcare.
What Is Health Education?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health education is a tool to improve a population’s general health and wellness through promoting knowledge and healthy practices (WHO PDF source).
Although the subject is often taught in school settings, students aren’t the only ones who need to know about health. In fact, all age groups and demographics can benefit from health education.
What Is The Significance Of Health Education?
Community health education examines a population’s well-being, looking for problems and trends and working with partners to find solutions.
The importance of health education impacts many areas of wellness within a community, including:
- Chronic disease awareness and prevention
- Prevention of violence and injury
- Maternal and infant health
- Mental and behavioral health
- Nutrition, exercise and obesity prevention
- Tobacco use and substance abuse
Community health educators work with public health departments, schools, government offices and even local nonprofits to design educational programs and other resources to address a community’s specific needs.
“As public health professionals, with aid of community leaders, we strive to ensure community wellness as it pertains to health education,” said Dr. Tanyi Obenson, a public health clinical faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), who holds a PhD in Public Health. “A healthier community is a better community.”
How Does Health Education Impact A Community?
By addressing relevant local issues and concerns, health education can have an impact on communities, such as the following three:
1. Healthcare Disparities
Public health educators ensure that all members of a community have equal access to wellness resources and healthcare services, in addition to providing educational programming and resources to the community.
“When considering care access and delivery within communities, health equity and social justice are one in the same,” said Dr. Natalie Rahming, an adjunct healthcare faculty member at SNHU with almost two decades of experience working in the healthcare field. “The social determinants of health classify the various ways in which an individual’s identity characteristics and social positions are woven into a fabric of discrimination.”
According to Rahming, common health disparities include:
- Gender health disparities
- Racial or ethnic health disparities
- Rural and urban health disparities
- Socioeconomic health disparities
Rahming said racism and other disparities have manifested into unequal distribution of care across distinct groups over many generations.
“A community health worker seeks to abolish or ameliorate health inequity from a social lens, whereas other health care workers approach it at an individual perspective,” she said. “Both are critical for healthcare advancement.”
2. Community Health Education And Government Policy
The importance of health education also extends to policy and legislation development at local, state and national levels, informing and influencing key decisions that impact community health.
From campaigns and legislation to enforce seat belt use and prevent smoking to programs that boost the awareness and prevention of diabetes, public health workers provide research and guidance to inform policy development.
“In alignment to work on policy, community health leaders are needed to support the community with prevention strategies, interventions and programs designed to improve disparities of care based on social, economic, and environmental factors,” said Dr. Toni Clayton, executive director of health professions at SNHU. Clayton holds a PhD with a focus on healthcare and is also vice chairperson of the SNHU Online Institutional Review Board.
“The collaboration of community leaders is essential to form a shared commitment and results-oriented approach to improving the health of our most vulnerable populations,” she said.
3. The Economic Importance Of Health Education
Health education can also boost a community’s economy by reducing healthcare spending and lost productivity due to preventable illness.
Obesity and tobacco use, for example, cost the United States billions of dollars each year in healthcare costs and lost productivity.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity costs the U.S. healthcare system almost $173 billion a year. And the total economic cost of tobacco use costs the United States more than $600 billion in direct health care costs and lost productivity every year, according to a 2025 American Lung Association report.
Programs designed to help community members combat expensive health issues boost individuals’ health and provide a strong return on investment for communities.
According to the CDC, states with strong tobacco control programs see a $55 return on every $1 investment, mostly from avoiding costs to treat smoking-related illnesses. The national cost of offering the National Diabetes Prevention Program is about $500 per participant, significantly lower than the $9,600 spent on diabetes care per type 2 diabetes patient yearly.
How To Become A Community Healthcare Worker
A community healthcare worker’s goal is to help others, starting with education.
A high school diploma or an associate’s degree is typically required to begin a career in community healthcare. The work done within public health and community healthcare differs from other healthcare fields and impacts communities in different ways, requiring different training and understanding of healthcare.
“Unlike individual healthcare delivery, public health investigates the systems and trends that impact behaviors and outcomes within a community collectively,” said Rahming. “The identification of needs and the provision of tools to promote disease prevention, individual empowerment, and improved wellness that enhances the quality of life for all are facilitated by this research,” the authors write.
Earning your bachelor’s degree in public health or community health could help you advance your career and better understand your work. On top of your classroom education, many community health care workers are required to complete on-the-job training. According to BLS, training often covers communication, outreach and information based on your specific community health focus.
Public Health Education: A Growing Field
As the health, social and economic impacts of community health education continue to grow, so does the field of public health and health promotion.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the role of health education specialist is projected to grow by 7% through 2033, faster than the average for all occupations. * BLS states that health education specialists usually need a bachelor’s degree but that some health education specialist jobs require you to have a master’s degree, too.
The Master of Public Health (MPH) degree could be a proactive way to learn more and get ready for a career in public health education. Whether you want to be a health education specialist or an epidemiologist, there are a variety of things you can do with your MPH. By adding a concentration to your degree, you can also focus your MPH studies on specific areas, such as global health. When considering MPH programs, look for one accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), such as SNHU’s. CEPH is an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and their accreditation means that the program has met the standards.
You can learn the skills you need to lead efforts to prevent illness and disease, build community wellness programs, and advocate for public health policy in an accredited MPH program. Whether you decide to pursue an MPH or community health education degree, the public health education field has a wide variety of settings where you may work.
These settings, according to the BLS, include:
- Government organizations and public health departments
- Hospitals and healthcare facilities
- Nonprofit organizations
- Private businesses and employee wellness programs
- Schools and colleges
According to SNHU adjunct faculty member Michelle Gifford, the field of community health education will also continue to expand as communities continue to place a greater emphasis on enhancing their citizens’ health and wellness.
“I believe that more and more communities are seeing benefits from wellness-related initiatives and receiving positive marks about them,” Gifford said. “Hence, community leaders are seeing this as not just a business-driven necessity, but also something that impacts the well-being and quality of life of their citizens.”