What is a Health Advocate?

Every year, over $2 trillion is being spent on health care. A large portion of that money is going towards preventable diseases and illnesses (as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). To help resolve this problem health advocates are hired to limit the financial, emotional and physical costs of these preventable illnesses.

Function

As a health advocate, your job would be to educate and provide info about leading a healthier lifestyle and limiting the chances of developing an illness or disease. They are also required to locate potential health risks in the workplace or within communities. Working with officials in order to address the hazards that are found is necessary.



Types of Employees

In this health care field, you will be able to work in a variety of settings, including large companies, universities, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

Features

As a health advocate, your role would be to assess the needs of employees, students or other population that you are catering to, in order to determine if there are any large health risks. Then a program must be developed to build awareness, training, health screenings and other projects that will help to address these risks.

Education

In most cases, you are required to have at least a bachelor's degree to work as a health advocate. You must have this degree in a health or scientific industry, such as chemistry or biology. Some even continue their education to obtain a master's or doctoral degree in public health.

Compensation

The average annual salary for this field was around $63,000 as of December 2009.