Introduction
This note covers individual health: its definition, the factors that influence it, and its classification into components.
Health and its definition
- Health is determined by the complex influence of social, biological, physical, chemical and other elements of the environment together with political and economic factors: labour, lifestyle, communications, education, healthcare services etc.
- Health levels can be public (whole population), individual and group (female/male, pregnant women, workers; specific diseases affect specific groups).
- WHO definition (1946): health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Individual health
- The health of a single person within a population; the lowest level of health. The next level is group health, then population health.
- It is constructed of genetic, social, mental and physical health, influenced by lifestyle and environment.
- It is characterised by a summary of influencing factors and can be determined by medical check-ups and clinical laboratory parameters.
Conceptual model of health (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2000)
If any of the factors in the model is influenced negatively, it leads to disease.