Quick questions on Health promotion approaches and models: WACE Year 12 Health Studies Unit 3

The biomedical approach treats health as the absence of disease and locates the cause and cure inside the body. It relies on doctors, hospitals, diagnosis, medication, surgery, screening and medical technology. Its strengths are clear: it extends and saves lives, treats acute illness, and produces fast, measurable results for the individual treated. Vaccination programs, cancer screening and emergency care all sit here.

The social approach sees health as produced by the conditions in which people live, and it acts on those conditions for whole populations. It addresses the social determinants directly: income, education, housing, environment and access to services. It emphasises prevention, equity, intersectoral action and community participation. Building safe cycling paths, taxing tobacco, regulating food advertising and improving housing are social-approach actions.

The right approach depends on the issue and the group. For an immediate, treatable condition, the biomedical approach is essential. For a widespread, preventable problem driven by social conditions, the social approach will do more, especially for disadvantaged groups. The best answers usually argue for a combination, with the balance tilted toward the social approach when the goal is to reduce inequity, because only the social approach changes the determinants.