Health redefined
- kelseyphelan3
- Jun 6, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 17, 2022
What is health? That can be hard to put into words. It is different for everyone. In 1948 WHO defined health “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”(WHO,1948). I was surprised to find out we haven’t updated the definition since then. Defining health is a complex concept. WHO uses the word complete in their definition. How do we measure completeness? If someone has a food allergy or sensitivity would that make them incomplete or unhealthy? I would not consider that person to be unhealthy. They can still live a full and happy life with a food allergy. It is the same for many chronic conditions.
WHO’s definition of health does not work in our current world. Many people have disabilities or chronic conditions that they are able to cope with and still live what people would consider a healthy life. When defining health there are sub themes within the definition. No one has found a way to define health as one concept. Healthcare workers and the public need to have a common definition of health so that there are no misunderstandings when providing or receiving care. I shared a video from OHSU(2014) of people stating what health is to them. Some people say just one word “ vibrancy or recovering”. Obviously, those are broad and do not provide enough detail. Others said a sentence or two, one I liked said “Eliminating human suffering“ (OHSU,2014). I found that to be very meaningful. That could apply to many of the sub themes of health: physical, mental, and social (vanDruten,2022). However, the statement has a similar flaw to WHO’s definition: eliminating all things that cause suffering is impossible.
In an article called Health: redefined by Oleribe et al the definition they suggested was "a satisfactory and acceptable state of physical (biological), mental (intellectual), emotional (psychological), economic (financial), and social (societal) wellbeing." This definition replaces complete with satisfactory or acceptable which are more easily attainable and reasonable. It takes into account emotional well being. It covers all of the main sub themes of health that were previously mentioned. They added in economic well being which we know contributes to overall health. Someone with poor economic status tends to have poorer health because they develop unhealthy habits.” Studies have also shown that people with low socio-economic status have increased mortality, because they are more likely to adopt detrimental lifestyles, such as smoking, alcohol and poor dietary habits”(Oleribe,2018). People who have a good social well being are part of a community, contribute to society, and have positive relationships with friends and community members. Present of social support aids in recovery and encourages healthy lifestyle. For all of those reasons I support Oleribe et al's comprehensive definition of health (Oleribe,2018).
References
OHSU.(2014, January 24). What is health? [Video]. YouTube.
World Health Organization (1948). Constitution of the World Health Organization.
van Druten, V.P., Bartels, E.A., van de Mheen, D. et al. Concepts of health in different
contexts: a scoping review. BMC Health Serv Res 22, 389 (2022).
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