Child Health And Nutrition(DECE2) IGNOU Unit Wise Solution Day 3(ENGLISH)

onwards. The medical profession looked upon the human body as a machine and
disease as a consequence of the breakdown of the machine, primarily brought about
by germs. The biomedical concept of health has been considered unsatisfactory as it
ignores the role of environmental, social, cultural and psychological determinants of
health.

This concept of health was found inadequate to explain some of the major
problems of mankind, such as malnutrition, chronic diseases, drug abuse, mental
illness etc. Deficiencies in the biomedical concept gave rise to other concepts of
health, like the ecological and psychosocial concepts.
According to the ecological concept, health is a state of harmonious equilibrium
between human beings and their environment, and disease a state of mal-adjustment
of the human being to the environment.. For example, destruction of forests on a
large scale has brought about changes in the climate leading to famine floods and
starvation with consequent disease problems. It is argued that better adaptation of
human beings to natural environments leads to a longer life expectancy and a better
quality of life.
Development of social sciences has led to the psychosocial concept of health. This
concept is based on the ground that health is not only a biological phenomenon, but
also a social one. Factors such as psychological, socio-cultural and economic also
influence health. There is a great role of social customs and practices on the health
status of the individuals, such as those relating to diet of a pregnant or lactating
woman, feeding an infant, and marriage between relatives.
The most acceptable concept of health is the holistic concept. This, in fact, is the
synthesis of all the above concepts. The holistic concept of health implies the well-
being of the person in the context of her environment. This view corresponds to the
ancient view that health implies a sound mind, in a sound body, in a congenial
family, in a good environment. The holistic concept thus recognizes that all sectors of
society have an effect on health, and emphasizes the protection and promotion of
health,
Q7. Define “Health”.(5 MARK)
Ans. The above concepts of health are embodied in the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) (1948) definition of health, which is as follows:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely
an absence of disease or infirmity.”

In recent years, this definition has been expanded to include the ability to lead a
“socially and economically productive life”.

While the WHO definition of health is one that is most widely accepted, it also has
some limitations. Can you identify them? Yes, one drawback is the absence of
measurable terms. For instance, can we measure the “mental well-being” or the
“social well-being” of a person and decide if it is complete? Well, not really!
Another criticism is that health cannot be defined as a “state”. Instead, it must be
seen as a process of continuous adjustment of people to the changing environment
and demands of life.
Further, many consider that health, as defined by WHO, is an idealistic goal rather
than a realistic one. There are times when we are suffering from an infection or
concentrating on our work, or worried about something. How often can we claim to
be in a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being? Some consider the
WHO definition irrelevant to everyday demands as nobody qualifies as healthy.
That is, if we follow this definition, most of us are sick!

However, in spite of the limitations mentioned above, the concept of health as
defined by WHO is broad and positive in its implications. It sets out the standard;
the standard of “positive health”, towards which all of us should strive.
Now what is positive health? You know that the WHO definition of health
envisages 3 dimensions of health-physical, mental and social. A person who enjoys
health at all these three levels is said to be in a state of positive health. The concept of
positive health implies the notion of “perfect functioning of the body and mind in the
social environment”. In such a state, biologically, every part and organ of the body is
functioning at optimum capacity and in perfect harmony; psychologically, the
individual feels a sense of well-being, and socially, her capacities for participation in
the social system are optimal.