DEN103 - What is Health

World Health Organization Definition

Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease

Health as an ideal state

Problems with the WHO definition

Is anyone completely healthy
What does Complete Physical Wellbeing mean
Can we ever attain this ideal state

Health as a commodity - Biomedical Definition

The more disease and pain the patient has the poorer their health is

Health as the absence of disease or infirmity and recommended treatments in the form of medical remedies

Problems with The Biomedical Definition

The commodities provided to us by medical practitioners will somehow help us to regain our lost state of health

Does not explain population variation in health. i.e. a determinant factor could be present such as education

Health as a state of daily functioning to perform Social Tasks

In order for people to be healthy, all forms of disease, illness and social handicap need to be removed in order to promote health

Problems with Health as a personal strength or ability

Very unclear what personal strength is and where they come from. Subjective to everyone.

What is the Health as a personal strength or ability theory

Health is about responding positively to problems and having resilience