Concept of Health and Disease

CONCEPT OF HEALTH
1
⚫Health is evolved over the centuries as a concept from individual
concern to world wide social goal and encompasses the whole
quality of life. Changing concept of health till now are:
⚫Biomedical concept
⚫Ecological concept
⚫Psychosocial concept
⚫Holistic concept

BIOMEDICAL
CONCEPT
2
Traditionally, health has been viewed as an “absence of disease”, and if one was free
from disease, then the person was considered healthy.
This concept has the basis in the “germ theory of disease”.
The medical profession viewed the human body as a machine, disease as a consequence
of the breakdown of the machine and one of the doctor’s task as repair of the machine.

ECOLOGICAL CONCEPT
3
Form ecological point of view; health is viewed as
a dynamic equilibrium between human being and
environment, and disease a maladjustment of the
human organism to environment.
According to Dubos “Health implies the relative
absence of pain and discomfort and a continuous
adaptation and adjustment to the environment to
ensure optimal function.”
The ecological concept raises two issues, viz. imperfect
man and imperfect environment.

PSYCHOSOCIAL CONCEPT
4
According to psychosocial concept “health is not only biomedical
phenomenon, but is influenced by social, psychological, cultural,
economic and political factors of the people concerned.”

HOLISTIC CONCEPT
5
This concept is the synthesis of all the above concepts.
It recognizes the strength of social, economic, political and
environmental influences on health.
It described health as a unified or multi dimensional process involving
the wellbeing of whole person in context of his environment .

DEFINITION OF
HEALTH
6
⚫“The condition of being sound in body, mind or
spirit especially freedom from physical disease or
pain.” - Webster
⚫“Soundness of body or mind that condition in
which its are duly and
efficiently discharged .” - Oxford English Dictionary

DEFINITION OF
HEALTH
7
⚫“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, social well-being
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
- World Health Organization
⚫In recent years, this definition has been
amplified to include “the ability to lead socially and economically
productive life”.

DEFINITION OF
HEALTH
8
⚫The WHO definition of health has been criticized as being too
broad. Some argue that can not be defined as a “state” at all,
but must be seen as a process of continuous adjustment to the
changing demands of living and of the changing meaning we
give to life. It is dynamic concept. It helps people live well, work
well and enjoy themselves.

DEFINITIONS OF HEALTH
9
⚫It refers to a situation that may exist in some
individuals but not in everyone all the time, it
is not usually observed in a groups of human
beings and in communities. Some consider it
irrelevant to everyday demands, as nobody
qualifies as healthy, i.e., perfect
biological, psychological and social
functioning. That is, if we accept the WHO
definition, we are all sick.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
10
⚫Broad Sense: Health can be seen as “A condition
or quality of human organism expressing the
adequate functioning of the organism in given
condition, genetic or environmental.”
⚫Narrow sense: There is no obvious evidence of
disease, and that a person is functioning
normally. Several organs of the body are
functioning adequately in themselves and in
relation to one another, which implies a kind of
equilibrium or homeostasis.

NEW PHILOSOPHY OF HEALTH
11
⚫Health is a fundamental human right.
⚫Health is essence of productive life.
⚫Health is inter- sectoral.
⚫Health is integral part of development.
⚫Health is central to quality of life.
⚫Health involves individuals, state and
international responsibility.
⚫Health and its maintenance is major
social investment.
⚫Health is world-wide social goal.

DIMENSIONS OF HEALTH
12
⚫Health is multidimensional.
⚫World Health Organization explained health in
three dimensional perspectives:
physical, mental, social and spiritual.
⚫Besides these many more may be cited, e.g.
emotional, vocational, political, philosophical, c
ultural, socioeconomic, environmental, educati
onal, nutritional, curative and preventive..

PHYSICAL DIMENSION
13
⚫Physical dimension views heath form
physiological perspective.
⚫It conceptualizes health that as biologically a
state in which each and every organ even a cell
is functioning at their optimum capacity and in
perfect harmony with the rest of body.
⚫Physical health can be assessed at community
level by the measurement of morbidity and
mortality rates.

MENTAL DIMENSION
14
⚫Ability to think clearly and coherently. This
deals with sound socialization in communities.
⚫Mental health is a state of balance between
the individual and the surrounding world, a
state of harmony between oneself and others,
coexistence between the relatives of the self
and that of other people and that of the
environment.
⚫Mental health is not merely an absence of
mental illness.

FEATURES OF MENTALLY
HEALTHY PERSON
15
⚫Free from internal conflicts.
⚫Well – adjusted in the external environment.
⚫Searches for one’s identity.
⚫Strong sense of self-esteem.
⚫Knows himself: his mind, problems and goal.
⚫Have good self-controls-balances.
⚫Faces problems and tries to solve them
intellectually.

SOCIAL DIMENSION
16
⚫It refers the ability to make and maintain
relationships with other people or
communities.
⚫It states that harmony and integration within
and between each individuals and other
members of the society.
⚫Social dimension of health includes the level
of social skills one possesses, social functioning
and the ability to see oneself as a member of a
larger society.

SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
17
⚫Spiritual health is connected with religious beliefs
and practices. It also deals with personal
creeds, principles of behavior and ways of
achieving peace of mind and being at peace with
oneself.
⚫It is intangible “something” that transcends
physiology and psychology.
⚫It includes integrity, principle and ethics, the
purpose of life, commitment to some higher
being, belief in the concepts that are not subject
to “state of art” explanation.

CONCEPT OF DISEASE
18
⚫Webster defines disease as “a condition in
which body health is impaired, a departure from
a state of health, an alteration of the human
body interrupting the performance of vital
functions”.
⚫The oxford English Dictionary defines disease as
“ a condition of the body or some part or organ
of the body in which its functions are disturbed
or deranged”.

CONCEPT OF DISEASE
19
⚫Ecological point of view disease is defined as
“a maladjustment of the human organism to
the environment.”
⚫The simplest definition is that disease is just
the opposite of health: i.e. any deviation from
normal functioning or state of complete
physical or mental well-being.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN DISEASE,
ILLNESS AND SICKNESS
20
⚫The term disease literally means “without
ease” (uneasiness), when something is wrong
with bodily function.
⚫Illness refers to the presence of a specific
disease, and also to the individual’s perceptions
and behavior in response to the disease, as well
as the impact of that disease on the
psychosocial environment.
⚫Sickness refers to a state of social dysfunction.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN
DISEASE, ILLNESS AND
SICKNESS
21
⚫Disease is a
physiological/psychological
dysfunction.
⚫Illness is a subjective state of the person who
feels aware of not being well.
⚫Sickness is a state of social dysfunction i.e. a
role that the individual assumes when ill
(sickness role).

CONCEPT OF WELLBEING
22
⚫Wellbeing of an individual or group of
individuals have several components and
has been expressed in various ways, such as
‘standard of living’ or ‘level of living’ and
‘quality of live’.

STANDARD OF LIVING
23
⚫Income and occupation, standards of
housing, sanitation and nutrition, the
level of provision of health, educational,
recreational and other services all be
used individually as measures of
socioeconomic status, and collectively as
an index of the standard of living.

LEVEL OF LIVING
24
⚫It consists of nine components : health, food
consumption, education, occupation and
working conditions, housing, social
security, clothing, recreation and leisure
human rights.
⚫These objective characteristics are believed to
influence human wellbeing. It is considered
that health is the most important component
of the level of living because its impairment
always means impairment of the level of living.

QUALITY OF LIFE
25
⚫The condition of life resulting from the
combination of the effects of the
complete range of factors such as those
determining health, happiness (including
comfort in the physical environment and
a satisfying occupation), education, social
and intellectual attainments, freedom of
action, justice and freedom of expression.
- WHO (1976)

QUALITY OF LIFE
26
⚫A composite measure of physical, mental and
social wellbeing as perceived by each
individual or by group of individuals- that is to
say, happiness, satisfaction and gratification as
it is expressed in such life concerns as
health, marriage, family work, financial
situation, educational opportunities, self-
esteem, creativity, belongingness, and trust in
others.

WELLBEING
27
⚫Wellbeing of an individual or group of
individuals have objective (standard of living or
level of living) and subjective (quality of life)
components.
⚫Thus, a distinction is drawn between the
concept of ‘level of living’ consisting of
objective criteria and of ‘quality of life’
comprising the individual’s own subjective
evaluation of these.

TWO ASPECTS OF HEALTH
28
• Subjective: It is formed by sensations and
feelings of a person suffering from disease.
• Objective: Its basis is formed by objective
parameters obtained by measurement of
structures and functions of a person during
disease.
⚫The quality of life can be evaluated by
assessing the persons subjective feeling of
happiness or unhappiness about the various
life concerns.

DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
30
⚫Health is determined by multiple factors.
⚫The health of an individual and community is
influenced by: individual (internal) and external
factors.
⚫The individual factors include by his own genetic
factors and the external factors include
environmental factors.
⚫These factors interact and these interactions may be
health promoting or deleterious.
⚫Thus, the health of individuals and whole
communities may be considered to be the result of
many interactions.

Communities
Individuals
Families
Societies
DETERMINANTS OF
HEALTH
31

BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS
32
⚫The health of an individual partly
depends on the genetic constitutions.
⚫A number of diseases e.g. chromosomal
anomalies, inborn error of metabolism,
mental retardation and some types of
diabetes are some extent due to genetic
origin.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
33
⚫Biological: disease producing agent (e.g.
bacteria, virus, fungi), intermediate host (e.g.
mosquito, sand fly), vector (e.g. house
fly), reservoir (e.g. pig in JE).
⚫Physical:
Air, water, light, noise, soil, climate, altitude, rad
iation housing, waste etc.
⚫Psychosocial: psychological make up of
individual and structure and functioning of
society. E.g.
habit, beliefs, culture, custom, religion etc.

LIFE STYLE
34
⚫Behavioral pattern and life long habits e.g.
smoking and alcohol consumption, food
habit, personal hygiene, rest and physical
exercise, bowel and sleeping patterns, sexual
behavior.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
35
⚫It consist of education, occupation and income.
⚫ The world map of illiteracy closely coincides with
the maps of poverty, malnutrition, ill health, high
infant and child mortality rates.
⚫The very state of being employed in productive work
promotes health, because the unemployed usually
show a higher incidence of ill-health and deaths.
⚫There can be no doubt that economic progress has
positive impact factor in reducing morbidity,
increasing life expectancy and improving the quality
of life.

AVAILABILITY OF
HEALTH AD
FAMILY WELFARE
SERVICE
36
⚫Health and family welfare services cover a wide
spectrum of personal and community services for
treatment of diseases, prevention of disease and
promotion of health.
⚫The purpose of health services is to improve the
health status of population.
⚫For example, immunization of children can influence
the incidence/prevalence of particular disease.
Provision of safe water can prevent mortality and
morbidity from water-borne diseases.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR HEALTH
37
⚫Individual responsibility: self care
for maintaining their own health.
⚫Community responsibility: health care for
the people to the health care by the people.
⚫State responsibility: constitutional rights.
⚫International responsibility: Health for
All through PHC.

INDICATORS OF HEALTH
38
⚫A variable which helps to measure changes
, directly or indirectly (WHO,1981).
⚫ A statistic of direct normative interest which
facilitates concise , comprehensive, and balanced
judgments about conditions of major aspects of
the society (H.E.W./USA,1969).
⚫The health indicators are defined as those
variables which measures the health status of an
individual and community.

NATIONAL SOCIO-CULTURAL,
ECONOMIC, DEMOGRAPHIC AND
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
39
Health
Policy
Development
Health
Supply
Health Demand
(2)
Inputs
Indicators
(3)
Process
Indicators
(4)
Outputs
Indicators
(5)
Outcomes
Indicators
Resources
Activities &
Management
Quality
Products
& Services
(a) Effects
Indicators
Change in
behaviour
Change in
health status
(b) Impact
Indicators
Health system

40
⚫Mortality Indicators: Crude Death rate, Life
Expectancy, Infant mortality rate, Child
mortality rate, Under five mortality rate,
Maternal mortality ratio, Disease specific
mortality, proportional mortality rate etc.
⚫Morbidity Indicators: Incidence and prevalence
rate, disease notification rate, OPD attendance
rate, Admission, readmission and discharge
rate, duration of stay in hospital and spells of
sickness or absence from work or school.

41
⚫Disability Indicators: Sullivan's index, HALE (Health
Adjusted Life Expectancy), DALY (Disability Adjusted
Life Year).
⚫ Sullivan's index is a expectation of life free from
disability.
⚫HALE is the equivalent number of years in full
health that a newborn can expected to live based on
the current rates of ill health and mortality.
⚫DALY expresses the years of life lost to premature
death and years lived with disability adjusted for the
severity of disability.

42
⚫Nutritional Status Indicators: Anthropometric
measurement of preschool children, Prevalence of
low birth weight etc.
⚫Health Care Delivery Indicators: Doctor-
population ratio, Bed-nurse ratio, Population-bed
ration, Population per health facility etc.
⚫Utilization Rates: immunization coverage, ANC
coverage, % of Hospital Delivery, Contraceptives
prevalence rate, Bed occupancy rate, average
length of stay in hospital and bed turnover rate etc.

⚫ INDICATORS OF SOCIAL AND MENTAL HEALTH: RATES OF SUICIDES, HOMICIDES, VIOLENCE,
CRIMES, RTAS, DRUG ABUSE, SMOKING AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION ETC.
⚫ ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS: PROPORTION OF POPULATION HAVING ACCESS TO
SAFE DRINKING WATER AND IMPROVED SANITATION FACILITY, LEVEL OF AIR
POLLUTION, WATER POLLUTION, NOISE POLLUTION ETC.
⚫ SOCIO ECONOMIC INDICATORS: RATE OF POPULATION INCREASE, PER CAPITA GNP,
DEPENDENCY RATIO, LEVEL OF UNEMPLOYMENT, LITERACY RATE, FAMILY SIZE ETC.
43

44
⚫Health policy Indicators: proportion of GNP
spent on health services, proportion of GNP
spent on health related activities including safe
water supply, sanitation, housing, nutrition
etc. and proportion of total health resources
devoted to primary health care.
⚫Indicators of Quality of Life: PQLI, IMR, Literacy
rate, Life Expectancy at age one etc.

ARE YOU SATISFIED?
NO, STILL I WANT TO
LEARN MORE.
45

Agent
EPIDEMIOLOGICA
L TRIAD
ENVIRONMEN
T
46
Host

MULTI-FACTORIAL ETIOLOGY
47
⚫The germ theory of disease or single cause
of disease is always not true.
⚫The germ theory of disease was overshadowed
by multi-factorial cause theory in 19th century.
⚫As a result of advancement in public
health, communicable diseases began to
decline and are replaced by new type of
diseases so called modern disease of
civilization.

MULTI-FACTORIAL ETIOLOGY
48
⚫Example: Lung cancer, CHD, Mental illness etc.
The disease could not be explained on the
basis of germ theory of disease and can not be
controlled or prevented on that basis. The
realization began that multiple factors are
responsible for disease causation where there
is no clear single agent.
⚫The purpose of knowing multiple factors of
disease is to quantify and arrange them in
priority sequence for modification to prevent
particular disease.

WEB OF CAUSATION
49
⚫This model of disease causation was
suggested by Mac Mohan and Pugh.
⚫]This model is ideally suited in the study
of chronic disease where the disease
agent is often not known, but is the
outcome of interaction of multiple factors.
⚫The web of causation considers all the
predisposing factors of any type and their
complex interaction with each other.

WEB OF CAUSATION
50
⚫The basic tenets of epidemiology are to
study the clusters of causes and
combinations of efforts and how they relate
to each other.
⚫The web of causation does not imply that
the disease can not be controlled unless all
the multiple causes or chain of causation or
at least a number of them are appropriately
controlled.
⚫Sometimes, removal of one link may
be sufficient to control disease.

WEB OF DISEASE CAUSATION
51
41
Changes in life style
Stress
Obesity
HTN
Smoking
Emotional stress
Aging
Changes in the walls
of arteries
Coronary Occlusion
Myocardial ischemia
Hyperlipidemia
Coronary
Atherosclerosis
Myocardial Ischemia
Fig: We b of causation of MI

CONCEPT OF CONTROL
52
⚫DISEASE CONTROL: The term disease control
refers ongoing operation aimed at reducing:
⚫The incidence of disease.
⚫The duration of disease and the consequently
the risk of transmission.
⚫The effect of infection including physical and
psychological complication.
⚫The financial burden to the community.

CONCEPT OF CONTROL
53
⚫In disease control, the disease agent is
permitted to persist in the community at a
level where it ceases to be a public health
problem according to the tolerance of local
community. For example Malaria control
programme. Disease control activities focus on
primary prevention

CONCEPT OF CONTROL
54
ELIMINATION: Reduction of case transmission to
a predetermined very low level or interruption
in transmission. E.g. measles, polio, leprosy from
the large geographic region or area.
ERADICATION: Termination of all transmission of
infection by extermination of the infectious
agent through surveillance and containment.
“All or none phenomenon”. E.g. Small pox

CONCEPT OF CONTROL
55
⚫MONITORING: Defined as “the performance
and analysis of routine measurement aimed at
detecting changes in the environment or health
status of population.” e.g. growth monitoring of
child, Monitoring of air pollution, monitoring of
water quality etc.
⚫SURVEILLANCE: Defined as “the continuous
scrutiny of the factors that determine the
occurrence and distribution of disease and
other conditions of ill health.” E.g. Poliomyelitis
surveillance programme of WHO.

CONCEPT OF PREVENTION
56
⚫Primordial prevention
⚫Primary prevention
⚫Secondary
prevention
⚫Tertiary Prevention

LEVELS OF PREVENTION
57
Primordial Prevention :
⚫Prevention from Risk Factors.
⚫Prevention of emergence or development of
Risk Factors.
⚫Discouraging harmful life styles.
⚫Encouraging or promoting healthy eating
habits.

58
Primary Prevention:
⚫Pre-pathogenesis Phase of a disease.
⚫Action taken prior to the onset of the disease:
⚫Immunization & Chemo-prophylaxis

59
Secondary Prevention:
⚫Halt the progress of a disease at its
incipient phase.
⚫Early diagnosis & Adequate
medical treatment.
Tertiary Prevention:
⚫Intervention in the late Pathogenesis Phase.
⚫Reduce impairments, minimize disabilities
& suffering.

INTERVENTI
ON
60
⚫Intervention is any attempt to intervene or
interrupt the usual sequence in the development
of disease. Five modes of intervention
corresponding to the natural history of any disease
are:
⚫Health Promotion
⚫Specific Protection
⚫Early Diagnosis and Adquate Treatment
⚫Disability Limitation
⚫Rehabilitation

HEALTH
PROMOTION
61
⚫It is the process of enabling people to increase
control over diseases, and to improve their
health. It is not directed against any particular
disease but is intended to strengthen the host
through a variety of approaches(interventions):
⚫Health Education
⚫Environmental Modifications
⚫Nutritional Interventions
⚫Lifestyle and Behavioral Change

SPECIFIC
PROTECTION
62
⚫Some of the currently available interventions
aimed at specific protection are:
⚫Immunization
⚫Use of specific Nutrients
⚫Chemoprophylaxis
⚫Protection against Occupational Hazards
⚫Avoidance of Allergens
⚫Control of specific hazards in general
environment
⚫Control of Consumer Product Quality & Safety

EARLY DIAGNOSIS &
TREATMENT
63
⚫Though not as effective and economical as ‘Primary
Prevention’, early detection and treatment are the
main interventions of disease control, besides being
critically important in reducing the high morbidity
and mortality in certain diseases like hypertension,
cancer cervix, and breast cancer.
⚫The earlier the disease is diagnosed and treated the
better it is from the point of view of prognosis and
preventing the occurrence of further cases
(secondary cases) or any long term disability.

DISABILITY
LIMITATIONS
64
⚫The Objective is to prevent or halt the transition
of the disease process from impairment to
handicap.
Sequence of events leading to disability &
handicap:
⚫Disease → Impairment → Disability→ Handicap

DISABILITY
LIMITATIONS
65
⚫Impairment: Loss or abnormality of
psychological, physiological/anatomical
structure or function.
⚫Disability: Any restriction or lack of ability
to perform an activity in a manner
considered normal for one’s age, sex, etc.
⚫Handicap: Any disadvantage that prevents one
from fulfilling his role considered normal.

REHABILITATION
⚫Rehabilitation has been defined as the ‘combined
and coordinated use of
medical, social, educational and vocational
measures for training and retraining the
individual to the highest possible level of
functional ability”
⚫Areas of concern in rehabilitation:
⚫Medical Rehabilitation
⚫Vocational Rehabilitation
⚫Social Rehabilitation
⚫Psychological Rehabilitation 75

Finally we have finished the course.
Best of Luck!
67

Concept of Health and Disease

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