What is Health?

 What is Health?

What was directly responsible for the rapid rise of the world population in the twentieth century?

1. Increased food production 2. Better transport facilities 3. Better education and job prospects. 4. Use of antibiotics and prophylactic vaccinations

The World Health Organisation (WHO) gave the following definition of health in 1948. "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The WHO definition of health recognizes three dimensions of health, i.e., physical, mental, and social. In 1978, another thing was included in this definition. It is the ability to lead a "Socially and economically productive life."

It is rightly said that Health is Wealth. There are various factors which influence health. These factors lie both within the individual and also in the society in which they live. The internal factors are basically the genetic makeup of an individual, while external factors lie in the environment to which they are exposed.

Personal health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Community health comprises maintaining, improving, and protecting the health of the entire community. The various factors that help in maintaining community health are:

"             Maintaining proper hygienic and sanitary conditions of the environment.

"             Providing good socio-economic conditions.

"             Providing health care services.

"             Imparting health education and promoting public awareness.

"             Providing proper facilities for preventing diseases.

Basic Conditions for Good Health - 'A sound mind in a sound body' is an old saying and expresses the importance of good health.

Distinctions between Healthy and Disease-free:-

Too often, we confuse being healthy with being disease-free. However, it is not the same thing at all! There are many differences between the two. Below, we will look at the basic differences between the two.

Disease-free - Healthy - One who is not suffering from any disease or derangement of the functioning of the body. Health is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being. It refers not only to the individual but also to the social and community environment. A disease-free individual may have good health or poor health 

A healthy individual can perform normally in a given situation.

Principles of Treatment:

The immune system is a major factor that determines the number of microbes surviving in the body. There are two ways to treat an infectious disease, i.e., To reduce the effects of the disease - To kill the cause of the disease

In the first case, treatment reduces the symptoms due to inflammation. A doctor gives medicine to the patient to bring down the fever and reduce pain or loose motions. One must also rest in bed so that one can conserve energy, enabling one to have more energy to focus on healing.

How do the Medicines Work?

To cure the disease, the microbes have to be killed by the use of medicine. As you know, we can classify microbes into different categories. They are viruses, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa. Each of these groups of organisms will have some essential biochemical life processes that are peculiar to that group and are not shared with the other groups.

These processes may be pathways for the synthesis of new substances. For example, our cells may make new substances by a mechanism different from that used by bacteria. Therefore, a drug that can block the bacterial synthesis pathway without affecting our own is used to cure a bacterial disease. Antibiotic drugs work on the same principle. Similarly, some drugs, such as malarial parasites, kill protozoa without affecting our bodies.

Viruses have only a few biochemical mechanisms of their own. This is the reason why making antiviral medicines is more difficult than making antibacterial medicines. The viruses enter the host cells and use the host's machinery for their life processes. Therefore, there are relatively few virus drugs that check a number of viral diseases, including HIV infection.

Prevention of Diseases - There are two ways to prevent diseases. General and Specific to a disease

In general, we can prevent exposure to diseases by providing good living conditions, such as drinking safe water and having a clean environment. In specific prevention, the immune system in our body normally fights off microbes. Our cells specialize in killing infecting microbes.

These cells go into action when microbes enter into the body. The immune cells manage to kill off the infection long before it assumes major proportions. The immune system will function well if proper and sufficient nourishment and food are available. There are also some specific ways to prevent infections, like vaccination for a particular disease.