Introduction
Advocacy in health care refers to the action of promoting and fostering social, economical, political and educational changes that reduce the risk of suffering of individuals and communities by implementing preventive strategies, increasing health literacy, and boosting access to care and health equity (Earnest, Wong & Federico, 2010). Health care advocacy agents can thus address health outcomes by advocating for changes to the current practices, environments, awareness, and access to care that populations face. This paper will discuss health care advocacy at the local, regional and international levels, the challenges and opportunities that exists in international healthcare advocacy and the ways these challenges can be addressed.

How Health Care Advocacy Agents Address Health Outcomes

The role and purpose of advocacy in the health care delivery system is to help to better ensure that the patient receives the type of quality care he or she needs no matter where he is in the world. Advocates are there to promote quality care, improve systems of care, and foster and facilitate the application of preventive care. Without advocates, patients and populations will have no one to support them, back them, fight for them, and work to improve their situations with respect to how they receive care and the extent to which they have access to care.

Local

Two ways that health care advocacy agents can address health outcomes at the local level are 1) by working with local groups to protect and improve access to care for uninsured patients in the community, and 2) by working with local school boards to promote a health curriculum to improve the health literacy of children so as to combat the obesity epidemic. The former would focus on increasing access to care and the latter would focus on increasing preventive care.

Regional

Two ways that health care advocacy agents can address health outcomes at the regional level are 1) by engaging in patient advocacy, and 2) promoting a framework for preventive care among health partners in their region. Patient advocacy is about ensuring that every patient is served justly and has his or her needs met in accordance with the cultural views and beliefs that the patient has (Ahmadinejad, Abbaszadeh & Davoodvand, 2016).

International

Two ways that health care advocacy agents can address health outcomes at the international level are 1) by promoting a more comprehensive application of human rights for patients, and 2) by reducing health disparities through the promotion of international collaboration to bring health care changes to countries where access to quality care is limited by lack of infrastructure. Promoting human rights is an important advocacy practice at the international level, as Benatar (2013) shows.

Challenges and...…the health care delivery system are crucial for improving the health outcomes of populations at the local, regional and international levels. Advocates are ones who side with the patient and the population, who put the needs of the patient and the population at the front and center of health care delivery systems. They identify the needs of the patient/population, advocate on their behalf by lobbying for governmental policy changes or implementation of new regulations, increase benefits such as reimbursement and/or access to care, and to increase awareness about health risks, ways to improve health, and how to prevent issues such as diabetes or heart disease from negatively impacting lives.

Personal Thoughts

What I learned from completing this assignment is that the health care industry and field really owes a lot to advocates who are willing to work on behalf of the people who need care in order to improve their lives and make the communities as well as the wider world a better place. Health advocates have to be good communicators, using the tools and messages that will best help to address the issues that affect people. They also have to be able to show a cultural understanding at the international level (though this may even be needed at the local level, as the global population has made even today’s communities much more…