This is the hardest concept and possibly the least important to discussions of healthcare. We should probably leave this to last but let's get the hardest word out of the way first. What is health? Am I healthy? I think so. Do you? Health is essential to us all but is essentially undefinable. Much work has been done and definitions abound but they all feel unsatisfactory and are often violently contested. Individuals believe they know when they feel healthy or otherwise and worrying over the definition is unproductive. There is much confusion in the writing about healthcare, illness and disease caused by associating these with health. Health is peripheral to the concerns of healthcare. It is not the prime concern of healthcare. Whatever health is its main determinants lie well away from healthcare. Healthcare does of course seek to help people who are ill to regain their health but this is a small effect compared to the many influences which affect health.. The core activities of healthcare can all be described, comprehended and improved with little or no concern for the meaning of health. Healthcare must stick closely to its task of relieving current distress and improving lifetime outlook. The companion disciplines of Health Promotion and Health Protection have closer involvement with health.
A continuing contribution to the promotion of sanity and decency in life with a few delights do lighten the load.
Monday, 4 September 2017
Healthcare makes only a small contribution to Health
WHO in 1948 defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
This is the hardest concept and possibly the least important to discussions of healthcare. We should probably leave this to last but let's get the hardest word out of the way first. What is health? Am I healthy? I think so. Do you? Health is essential to us all but is essentially undefinable. Much work has been done and definitions abound but they all feel unsatisfactory and are often violently contested. Individuals believe they know when they feel healthy or otherwise and worrying over the definition is unproductive. There is much confusion in the writing about healthcare, illness and disease caused by associating these with health. Health is peripheral to the concerns of healthcare. It is not the prime concern of healthcare. Whatever health is its main determinants lie well away from healthcare. Healthcare does of course seek to help people who are ill to regain their health but this is a small effect compared to the many influences which affect health.. The core activities of healthcare can all be described, comprehended and improved with little or no concern for the meaning of health. Healthcare must stick closely to its task of relieving current distress and improving lifetime outlook. The companion disciplines of Health Promotion and Health Protection have closer involvement with health.
This is the hardest concept and possibly the least important to discussions of healthcare. We should probably leave this to last but let's get the hardest word out of the way first. What is health? Am I healthy? I think so. Do you? Health is essential to us all but is essentially undefinable. Much work has been done and definitions abound but they all feel unsatisfactory and are often violently contested. Individuals believe they know when they feel healthy or otherwise and worrying over the definition is unproductive. There is much confusion in the writing about healthcare, illness and disease caused by associating these with health. Health is peripheral to the concerns of healthcare. It is not the prime concern of healthcare. Whatever health is its main determinants lie well away from healthcare. Healthcare does of course seek to help people who are ill to regain their health but this is a small effect compared to the many influences which affect health.. The core activities of healthcare can all be described, comprehended and improved with little or no concern for the meaning of health. Healthcare must stick closely to its task of relieving current distress and improving lifetime outlook. The companion disciplines of Health Promotion and Health Protection have closer involvement with health.
