What is health?

What is health? “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, 2018) originally established in 1946. Internationally, governments model their healthcare delivery based on the World Health Organizations (WHO) understanding of health. In this blog, I will highlight modern perspectives of health redefined from a broad international perspective as well as our unique personal perspectives on our own health.

Cultural views on health are complexly shaped by our socioeconomic and political environments, explaining the diversity of perspectives on health as many governments around the world do not possess the means or values to provide access to free healthcare as a basic human right, to which WHO believes it is (2018). Globalization has exposed the crisis of poor access to affordable healthcare for populations around the world, and therefore has become a key priority for the WHO: WHO raises awareness of global crisis in universal health coverage. This video raises awareness to prompt urgency in governments to take responsibility in leading healthcare programs that aim to give “people have access to disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care services without suffering financial hardship as a result” (WHO, 2018).

Individualistic views on our own health (Canadian) are largely dependent on our Canadian lifestyle, our nutritional habits, physical activity, genetics, and our social interaction with natural and public resources (Government of Canada, 2008). Huber et al. (2011) expresses the inappropriate use of “complete” wellbeing to describe health in modern times; he explains that self-management of health in those with chronic health conditions are an example of maintenance of health in the ability to adapt to changes in one’s physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. This individualistic view of health is supported in the Meikirch Model of Health which supports the emergent nature of one’s health potential as a complex interactive process in response to the physical, social and environmental factors of life’s demands across a lifetime (Bircher & Kuruvilla, 2014).

A modern recurring theme of work-life-balance (WLB) attainment is commonly uttered through the mouths of stressed out adults with not enough time in the day to manage their own wellbeing. The speed to which we live our modern lives has us perpetually plugged in; receiving, processing and responding to emails, messages, and tweets into the wee hours of the night, making the demands of work and personal life challenging to balance. A healthy WLB can bring great satisfaction and result in higher self-rated health; employers are taking note of this and are beginning to offer interventions for their employees, such as flexible schedules and telecommuting, to improve WLB for both genders especially women (Lambert-Slythe et al., 2018).

Social and cultural tolerance of all people is a basic right, as outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, however stories of intolerance and hate-crimes occur commonly in the news as stated in Brook’s (2017) article, where he challenges our understanding of modern day ‘health’ by posing important questions; what is the strength of a community’s culture of health, how can we measure this, and why don’t we measure this? Physicians and health care professionals could be leaders in promoting tolerance in our communities by screening for unhealthy intolerances (Brook, 2017).

Our perspectives of health will continue to evolve as the environment to which we live changes around us. Leaders in healthcare need to continue asking these thought provoking questions to generate new knowledge and development in healthcare and the maintenance of health.

Resources

Constitution Act (1982). Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Government of Canada. Retrieved from: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html

Bircher, J., & Kuruvilla, S. (2014). Defining health by addressing individual, social, and environmental determinants: New opportunities for health care and public health. Journal of Public Health Policy, 35, 363-386. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fjphp.2014.19.pdf

Brook. R. H. (2017). Should the definition of health include a measure of tolerance? JAMA, 317 (6), 585-586. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.14372. Retrieved from: https://0-jamanetwork-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/journals/jama/fullarticle/2601506

Government of Canada. (2008). What is Health? Retrieved from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/population-health-approach/what-is-health.html

Government of Canada (2018). Social determinants of health and health inequalities https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/what-determines-health.html

Huber, M., Knottnerus, J., Green, L., Horst, H., Jadad, A., Kromhout, D., . . . Smid, H. (2011). How should we define health? BMJ, 343.Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23051314

Independent (April 7th, 2018). Independent: Health. Online News source. Retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/world-health-day-2018-who-universal-coverage-awareness-services-extreme-poverty-financial-hardship-a8291316.html

Lambert-Slythe, A. F., Gilbert-Ouimet, M., Duchaine, C., Vézina, M., Aubé, K., Mantha-Bélisle, M. M., ... & Brisson, C. (2018). 810 Healthy enterprise standard (hes) evaluation: impact on work-life balance and self-rated health.http://oem.bmj.com/content/75/Suppl_2/A596.2

Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July, 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April, 1948.

World Health Organization. (2018). Constitution of WHO: principles. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/about/mission/en/

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