Revision for Intro to Public Health module
WHO definition of health
A state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Biomedical perspective
Disease is the result of deviation from the norms of biological variables
Lifestyle perspective
Health choices result in good or bad health
Public health is about…
preventing health problems in the population
Population
At least two people sharing at least one common characteristic
Socio-economic perspective
factors in non-healthcare sectors influence a person’s health
Population perspective
Conditions that shape a population affect health
Eco-social health perspective
conceptualizes health broadly and focuses on multiple factors that might affect health
life-course perspective
health status is affected by cumulative life conditions
indicators
show how healthy a population is