The concept of health

For Public Health Students
By: Asrat Zewdie (Bsc, MPH)
Email: asrat.zewdie@meu.edu.et
Department of Public Health
February 2022
MeU
THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH
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By: Asrat Z. (Bsc, MPH)

The concept of health
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At the end of this session, the students are
expected to:
 Define health
 Describe the different concepts and
perspectives of Health

Brainstorming
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What is health?

Health
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 The concept of health is often difficult to define
and measure
 It is a broad concept and experience
 Its boundary extends beyond the "sick"
 It is often difficult to put a clear-cut demarcation
between the "sick“ and the "not sick’’ It
depends on:
1. The perception of individuals
2. The threshold e.g. pain
3. The ability to recognize symptoms and signs

Health…
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 Most individuals define health as the following
(Layman definitions):
 Being free of symptoms of disease and pain
 Being able to be active and able to do what
they want do
 Being in good spirits most of the time

Health…
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1. Layman point of view: Persons are healthy
when they are doing their activities with no
apparent symptoms of disease in them
• Being free of symptoms of disease and pain
• Being able to be active and able to do what
they want do
• Being in good spirits most of the time
 The New oxford Dictionary of English
describes health as ‘the state of being free
from illness or injury’

Health…
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2. Professional point of view: health is a measure
of the state of the physical bodily organs, and the
ability of the body as a whole to function
 It refers to freedom from medically defined
diseases
 In the general, the view is described by the
following model
 Disease(X) + Medical Treatment =will end with
health
 These 2 concepts named as negative (narrow)
model

Health…
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3. WHO definition (Holistic definition) (1948):
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental,
and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity”
 The extent to which an individual or group is
able to realize aspirations, satisfy needs and
to change or cope with the environment
(WHO, 1984)

Health…
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 ‘’Health is not a condition, it is an adjustment. It
is not a state, but a process
 The process adapts the individual not only to
our physical, but also our social environments’’
(President’s commission)
 Health may be regarded as:
 A balance of physical, mental and social aspects
of life
 State of being well and using every power the
individual possesses

A. Physical wellbeing
 anatomical integrity and physiological functioning of the
body
 It means the ability to perform routine tasks without any
physical restriction
 All the body parts should be there and are in their natural
place and position
 None of them has any pathology
 They work with each other harmoniously
 E.g. physical fitness needed to walk form place to place
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B.Mental Health
 A person shows behaviour which confirms an awareness of self
or personal identity, coupled with a life purpose, a sense of
personal autonomy and willingness to perceive reality and cope
with its difficulties
WHO defines mental health as:
• individual realizes his or her own abilities
• can cope with the normal stresses of life
• can work productively and fruitfully, and
• able to make a contribution to his or her community
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C. Social wellbeing
 ability to make and maintain acceptable interactions with
other people
 This is the ability to maintain one's identity while sharing,
cooperating, communicating, and enjoying others;
participation in friendship, family and community life.
Examples:
• to celebrate during festivals
• to mourn when a close family member dies
• to create and maintain friendship and intimacy
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D. Emotional wellbeing
 The ability to recognize emotions such as fear, joy, grief and
anger and to express such emotions appropriately (coping
with stress, tension, depression and anxiety)
 is the ability of expressing emotions in the appropriate way
E.g. to fear, to be happy, to be angry
 It refers to our sense of well-being and our ability to cope
with life events
 Its related to mental health and includes feelings
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E. Spiritual wellbeing
 Spirituality is unique to each individual
 It is the innermost part that allows to gain strength and
hope
 It is discovering the sense of meaningfulness in life and
knowing a purpose to fulfill
 For some it is connected with religion, for others with
personal creed/faith, values, principles of behaviour and
achieving peace and being at peace
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Aspects of health…
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Criticism of holistic definition:
The holistic definition may seem very attractive but still has
lots of drawbacks
1. Difficult to conceptualize and standardize/ too idealistic
and unrealistic to achieve
2. Lacks clear cut attributes and criteria for measurement
3. No person can reflect/fulfill all of the components at a
point in time
 Conclusion: All components are interdependent
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Concepts of health
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 Disease- is a physiological/psychological
dysfunction
 Is the existence of some pathology or
abnormality of the body, which is capable of
detection using accepted investigation methods
 Illness- a subjective state of the person who
feels aware of not being well
 Sickness- is a state of social dysfunction: that is
a role that the individual assumes when ill

Concepts in health…
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 Community- refers to a group of people who
share common characteristics
 Examples of common denominators may be
neighborhood, work place, race, religion or
social activity
 Communities are characterized by people’s
engagement in activities that demand
interrelationship of efforts, they give rise to
shared culture, and they are often sited in a
particular geographic location

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 Community diagnosis-is the process of
identification and detailed description of the
most important problems of a given community
 It may be broad or narrow in scope, and may
deal with only a single topic or a single sub
group

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 Risk factors - are factors positively associated
with the risk of developing disease but are not
sufficient
 Some risk factors are associated with many
diseases while some diseases are associated
with many factors
 Determinant: factor that contributes to the
generation of a trait

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 Primary health care: is defined as an essential
health care based on practical, scientifically
sound, and socially acceptable methods and
technology made universally accessible to
individuals and families in the community
through their full participations and at a cost that
the community and the country can afford to
maintain at every stage of their development in
the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination

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 Clinical care: prevention, treatment, and
management of illness and the preservation of
mental and physical well-being through the
services offered by medical and allied health
professions; also known as health care
 Epidemic or outbreak: occurrence in a community
or region of cases of an illness, specific health-
related behavior, or other health-related event
clearly in excess of normal expectancy
 Health outcome: result of a medical condition that
directly affects the length or quality of a person’s
life

Perspectives on health
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 Health is viewed as a right, as consumption
good, and as an investment
 Some view health as a right similar to justice or
political freedom
 The WHO constitution sates that “ . . . the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
health is one of the fundamental rights of every
human being without distinction of race, religion,
political belief, economic or social condition”

Perspectives on health
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 Others view health as an important individual
objective of material aspect i.e. as consumption
good
 The third view considers health as an
investment, indicates health as an important
prerequisite for development because of its
consequence on the overall production through
its effect on the productive ability of the
productive force
 These different views indicate differences in the
emphases given to health by governments

THANK YOU!
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The concept of health

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