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Defining health in the contemporary world can be a complex task which involves considering the determinants of health as well. While referring to today’s definition of health, Machteld Huber and colleagues have described it as the ability to adapt and self-manage in the face of social, physical and emotional challenges . Another modern definition of health as per Bradley and colleagues is that health is a dynamic quality of living where the body, mind and spirit are fully employed to make the most of the day.
The definition of health made by Machteld Huber and colleagues differ from WHO’s health definition in the fact that WHO states health to be a state of well-being whereas Machteld Huber and colleagues refer to health as the ability to adapt to changes and situations. As per the comparison in the definition of health made Bradley and colleagues and WHO; the key difference is that WHO considers health as a state of being rather than an ever-evolving quality of life.
The above two modern definitions of health are extremely helpful and relevant. They help us understand health from a perspective that is more relevant in today’s time as opposed to a definition of health formulated by the WHO in the year 1948. The contemporary authors have redefined health by considering numerous factors faced by people in today’s world and have incorporated that in the modern definition.
As per Machteld Huber and colleagues, the WHO definition of health is obsolete and does not incorporate multiple factors such as the population demographics, measuring health, nature of disease etc. The following are the contemporary criticisms of the WHO definition:
- Firstly, the use of the word “complete” in the definition makes it more subjective to arguments as most of us can never be a in a complete state of being. It also highlights complete physical well-being that demands medical screening for a larger population, hence elevating the levels of depending on medical imaging tests and the associated risk .
- Secondly, there has been an evolution in the population demographics and the nature of illnesses since 1948. Chronic diseases have been on the rise and the population is aging with it. The WHO definition of health on the contrary defines people with chronic diseases as ill. It does not inculcate a human being’s ability to adjust with physical, social and mental challenges to accomplish a state of well-being while fighting chronic diseases.
- Lastly, the definition of health by WHO does not factor in a measure of tolerance. Healthcare is continuing to evolve at a dynamic rate. Unfortunately, sixty years ago there were no tools to measure a person’s physical, mental and social well-being. The inability to determine an individual’s well-being is a major drawback of WHO’s definition. In today’s contemporary practice of determining an individual’s health, the physician or the nurse often incorporate questions that measure not just the physical but also the social and mental well-being of a person.
REFERENCES
Bradley, K. L., Goetz, T., & Viswanathan, S. (2018). Toward a Contemporary Definition of Health. Military Medicine,183 (Suppl_3), 204-207. doi:10.1093/milmed/usy213
Brook RH. Should the Definition of Health Include a Measure of Tolerance? JAMA. 2017;317(6):585–586. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.14372
Huber, M. (2011). Health: How should we define it? British Medical Journal, 343, (7817), 235-237. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4163
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