What is Health?

jc645587
Oct 9, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Dec 6, 2022

Image: What is Health? - StemCellsRome (stemcellsrome2006.org)

The Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), which came into force on April 7, 1948, defined health “as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being” (Sartorius, 2006). The writers of the constitution were seeing the state of health ultimately as a presence or absence of disease. Today, three types of definition of health seem to be possible and are used. The first is that health is the absence of any disease or impairment. The second is that health is a state that allows the individual to adequately cope with all demands of daily life (implying also the absence of disease and impairment). The third definition states that health is a state of balance, an equilibrium that an individual has established within himself and between himself and his social and physical environment (Sartorius, 2006). These differ from the WHO definition as they focus on social and personal resources and the physical capacity of people, which WHO did not consider.

Image: World Health Organization (WHO)

When examining the 1948 WHO definition, it is no longer adequate for dealing with the new challenges in health care systems. Contemporary criticism of the WHO definition includes the absoluteness of the word “complete” in relation to wellbeing. The first problem is that it unintentionally contributes to the medicalization of society. The requirement for complete health “would leave most of us unhealthy most of the time” (Tulloch et al, 2005).

The second problem is that since 1948 the demography of populations and the nature of disease have changed considerably. In 1948 acute diseases presented the main burden of illness and chronic diseases led to early death, where nowadays people are living with chronic diseases for decades. Ageing with chronic illnesses has become the norm, and chronic diseases account for most of the expenditures of the healthcare system, putting pressure on its sustainability (Brook, 2017).

The third problem is the operationalization of the definition. WHO has developed several systems to classify diseases and describe aspects of health, disability, functioning, and quality of life. Yet because of the reference to a complete state, the definition remains “impracticable, because ‘complete’ is neither operational nor measurable” (Sartorius, 2006).

Redefining health is an ambitious and complex goal; many aspects need to be considered, many stakeholders consulted, and many cultures reflected, and it must also consider technological advances (Huber, 2011).