CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

CONCEPTS OF HEALTH
& DISEASE
BY SURAJ DHARA
(MMC)

CONCEPTOFHEALTH
2
Health is evolved over the centuries as a concept
from individual concern to world wide social goal
and encompassesthe whole quality oflife.
Changingconcept of health till noware:
Biomedical concept
Ecological concept
Psychosocial concept
Holistic concept

BIOMEDICALCONCEPT
3
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 asa machine, disease asa consequence of
the breakdown of the machine and one of the
doctor’s task asrepair of themachine.

ECOLOGICALCONCEPT
4
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 optimalfunction.”
The ecological concept raises two issues, viz
imperfect man and imperfect environment.

PSYCHOSOCIALCONCEPT
According to psychosocial concept “health is not
only biomedical phenomenon, but is influenced
by social, psychological, cultural, economic and
political factors of the peopleconcerned.”
5

HOLISTICCONCEPT
6
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 ofhis environment .

DEFINITIONSOFHEALTH
“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 dulyand
efficiently discharged .” - OxfordEnglish
Dictionary
7

DEFINITIONSOFHEALTH
“Health is astate of complete physical, mental,
social well-being and not merely the absence
of diseaseor infirmity.”
- World HealthOrganization
In recent years, this definition hasbeen
amplified to include “the ability to lead socially
and economically productive life”.
8

DEFINITIONSOFHEALTH
9
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.

DEFINITIONSOFHEALTH
10
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 ashealthy, i.e., perfect
biological, psychological and social
functioning. That is, if we accept the WHO
definition, we are allsick.

OPERATIONALDEFINITION
The WHO definition of health is not an
“operational” definition, i.e. it does not
lend itself to direct measurement,
studies of epidemiology of health have
been hampered because of our
inability to measure health and
wellbeing directly.
11

OPERATIONALDEFINITION
12
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.

NEWPHILOSOPHYOFHEALTH
13
Health is afundamental human right.
Health is essenceof productive life.
Health is inter- sectoral.
Health is integral part ofdevelopment.
Health is central to quality oflife.
Health involves individuals, state and
international responsibility.
Health and its maintenance is major social
investment.
Health is world-wide social goal.

DIMENSIONSOFHEALTH
14
Health is multidimensional.
World Health Organization explained health
inthree dimensional perspectives:
physical, mental, social and spiritual.
Besides these many more may be cited, e.g.
emotional, vocational, political, philosophical,
cultural, socioeconomic, environmental,
educational, nutritional, curative and
preventive..

PHYSICALDIMENSION
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.
15

MENTALDIMENSION
Ability to think clearly and coherently. This
deals with sound socialization incommunities.
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 isnot merely an absence of
mental illness.
16

Features of mentally healthyperson
Freefrom internal conflicts.
Well – adjusted in the externalenvironment.
Searchesfor one’sidentity.
Strong senseof self-esteem.
Knowshimself: his mind, problems andgoal.
Havegood self-controls-balances.
Faces problems and tries to solve them
intellectually.
17

SOCIALDIMENSION
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 thesociety.
Social dimension of health includes the level
of social skills one possesses, social functioning
and the ability to see oneself asa member of a
larger society.
18

SPIRITUALDIMENSION
19
Spiritual health is connected with religious beliefs
and practices. It also deals withpersonal
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.

CONCEPTOFDISEASE
20
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 ofvital
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”.

CONCEPTOFDISEASE
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 mentalwell-being.
21

Distinction between Disease,
Illness and Sickness
22
Theterm diseaseliterally means “without ease”
(uneasiness), when something is wrong with
bodily function.
Illness refers to the presence ofaspecific
disease, and also to the individual’sperceptions
and behavior in response to the disease, as well
asthe impact of that diseaseon the
psychosocial environment.
Sicknessrefers to astate of social dysfunction.

Distinction betweenDisease,
Illness and Sickness
23
Diseaseis aphysiological/psychological
dysfunction.
Illness is asubjective state of the person who
feels aware of not beingwell.
Sicknessis astate of social dysfunction i.e. a
role that the individual assumeswhen ill
(sicknessrole).

CONCEPTOFWELLBEING
Wellbeing of an individual or group of
individuals haveseveral components and
hasbeen expressed in various ways,suchas
‘standard of living’ or ‘level of living’ and
‘quality of live’.
24

STANDARDOFLIVING
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 ofliving.
25

LEVELOFLIVING
26
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 ofliving.

QUALITYOFLIFE
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 ofexpression.
- WHO(1976)
27

QUALITYOFLIFE
28
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
29
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.

TWOASPECTS OFHEALTH
30
• Subjective: It is formed by sensations and
feelings of aperson suffering fromdisease.
• 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.

DETERMINANTSOFHEALTH
32
Health is determined by multiplefactors.
Thehealth 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 ordeleterious.
Thus, the health of individuals and whole
communities may be considered to be the result of
many interactions.

Communities
Individuals
Families
Societies
DETERMINANTSOFHEALTH
33

BIOLOGICALDETERMINANTS
34
The health of an individual partly depends
on the geneticconstitutions.
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.

ENVIRONMENTALFACTORS
35
Biological: disease producing agent (e.g.
bacteria, virus, fungi), intermediate host (e.g.
mosquito, sandfly), vector (e.g. housefly),
reservoir (e.g. pig inJE).
Physical:
Air, water, light, noise, soil, climate, altitude,
radiation housing, wasteetc.
Psychosocial: psychological make up of
individual and structure and functioning of
society. E.g. habit, beliefs, culture, custom,
religionetc.

LIFESTYLE
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.
36

SOCIO-ECONOMICCONDITIONS
37
It consist ofeducation, 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 ahigher incidence of ill-health anddeaths.
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 adfamily
welfare Service
38
Health and family welfare services cover awide
spectrum of personal and community servicesfor
treatment of diseases,prevention of diseaseand
promotion of health.
Thepurpose of health services is to improve the
health status of population.
For example, immunization of children caninfluence
the incidence/prevalence of particulardisease.
Provision of safe water canprevent mortalityand
morbidity from water-bornediseases.

Aging of thepopulation
39
Bythe year 2020, the world will havemore
than one billion people agedsixty or overand
more than two-thirds of them living in
developing countries.
Amajor concern of rapid population aging is
the increased prevalence of chronic diseases
and disabilities both being condition thattend
to accompanythe aging process and deserve
special attention.

OTHERDETERMINANTSOFHEALTH
40
Exceptabove discussed determinants, there
are many more determinates of health and
diseaseof an individual and community.These
include:
Scienceand technology
Information andcommunication
Gender
Equity and socialjustice
Human rights etc.

RESPONSIBILITYFORHEALTH
41
Individual responsibility: self care for
maintaining their ownhealth.
Community responsibility: health care for the
people tothe health care by the people.
State responsibility: constitutional rights.
International responsibility: Health for All
through PHC.

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
42
Avariable which helps to measurechanges
, directly or indirectly (WHO,1981).
Astatistic of direct normative interest which
facilitates concise , comprehensive, andbalanced
judgments about conditions of major aspects of
the society (H.E.W./USA,1969).
Thehealth indicators are defined asthose
variables which measures the health status ofan
individual andcommunity.

National Socio-Cultural, Economic,
Demographic and Environment Indicators
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
Changein
behaviour
Change in
healthstatus
(b) Impact
Indicators
Health system
43

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
44
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 rateetc.
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
sicknessor absencefrom work orschool.

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
45
Disability Indicators: Sullivan's index, HALE (Health
Adjusted Life Expectancy), DALY(Disability Adjusted
Life Year).
Sullivan's index is aexpectation of life free from
disability.
HALEis the equivalent number of years in full health
that anewborn canexpected to live based on the
current rates of illhealth and mortality.
DALYexpressesthe yearsof life lost to premature
death and yearslived with disability adjusted forthe
severity of disability.

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
46
Nutritional Status Indicators: Anthropometric
measurement of preschool children, Prevalenceof
low birth weightetc.
Health Care Delivery Indicators: Doctor-
population ratio, Bed-nurse ratio, Population-bed
ration, Population per health facilityetc.
Utilization Rates: immunization coverage,ANC
coverage, %of Hospital Delivery, Contraceptives
prevalence rate, Bedoccupancy rate, average
length of stay in hospital and bed turnoverrate etc.

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
47
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 accessto safedrinking water
and improved sanitation facility, level of air
pollution, water pollution, noise pollutionetc.
Socio Economic Indicators: rate of population
increase, Percapita GNP,Dependency ratio, Level
of unemployment, literacy rate, familysizeetc.

INDICATORSOFHEALTH
48
Health policy Indicators: proportion of GNP
spent on health services, proportion of GNP
spent on health related activities includingsafe
water supply, sanitation, housing, nutrition
etc. and proportion of total health resources
devoted to primary healthcare.
Indicators of Quality of Life: PQLI,IMR, Literacy
rate, Life Expectancyat ageoneetc.

Are you satisfied?
No, still I want tolearn more.
49

THEORIESOFDISEASESCAUSATION
50
1. Supernatural theory ofdisease
Diseaseis due to super power e.g. gods,evil
spirits.
2. Tridosha theory ofdisease
Thedoshas or humors are: Vaata(Wind),
Pitta (gall), and Kapha (mucus).
Perfect balance of tridosha is healthy
Disturbance in balance isdisease

THEORYOFDISEASESCAUSATION
51
3. Theory of Contagion
Spreading of disease by being close to or
touching other people.
4. Miasmatic theory of diseasecausation
Diseaseis due to noxious air andvapors
Theseconcepts were prevailing before
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895).

5. Germ Theory of disease
In 1860, Louis Pasteurdemonstrated the
presence of bacteria inair.
This theory emphasized that the sole causeof
diseaseis microbes.
Thetheory generally referred to asone-to-
one relationship between diseaseagentand
disease.
Diseaseagent Man Disease
52

53
6. Epidemiological Triad concept
Thegerm theory of diseasehasmany
limitations
For example it is well– known that notall
exposedto tuberculosis bacilli develops
tuberculosis ,the samecondition in an
undernourished person may result in
clinically manifest.

Agent
54
Host
Epidemiological Triad
Environment

MULTI-FACTORIALETIOLOGY
55
Thegerm theory of diseaseor single causeof
diseaseis alwaysnot true.
Thegerm theory of diseasewasovershadowed
by multi-factorial causetheory in 19thcentury.
Asaresult of advancement in public
health, communicable diseasesbeganto
decline and are replaced by new type of
diseasessocalled modern diseaseof
civilization.

MULTI-FACTORIAL ETIOLOGY
56
Example: Lungcancer,CHD,Mental illnessetc.
Thediseasecould not be explained on the
basis of germ theory of diseaseand cannotbe
controlled or prevented onthat basis. The
realization beganthat multiple factors are
responsible for diseasecausation where there
is no clear singleagent.
Thepurpose of knowing multiple factors of
diseaseis to quantify and arrange them in
priority sequencefor modification toprevent
particular disease.

WEBOFCAUSATION
57
This model of diseasecausation wassuggested
by Mac Mohan andPugh.
This model is ideally suited in the study of
chronic diseasewhere the diseaseagent is
often not known, but is the outcome of
interaction of multiplefactors.
Theweb of causation considers all the
predisposing factors of any type andtheir
complex interaction with eachother.

WEBOFCAUSATION
58
The basic tenets of epidemiology are to study
the clusters of causes and combinations of
efforts and how they relate toeachother.
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 controldisease.

WEBOFDISEASECAUSATION
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
59

CONCEPTOFCONTROL
60
DISEASE CONTROL: Theterm diseasecontrol
refers ongoing operation aimed atreducing:
Theincidence of disease.
Theduration of diseaseand the consequently
the risk oftransmission.
Theeffect of infection including physical and
psychological complication.
Thefinancial burden to thecommunity.

CONCEPTOFCONTROL
61
In diseasecontrol, the disease agent is
permitted to persist in the community at a
level where it ceasesto be apublic health
problem according to the tolerance of local
community. For example Malaria control
programme. Diseasecontrol activities focuson
primary prevention

CONCEPTOFCONTROL
62
ELIMINATION: Reduction of casetransmissionto
apredetermined very low level or interruption
in transmission. E.g.measles, polio, leprosy from
the large geographic region orarea.
ERADICATION: Termination of all transmissionof
infection by extermination of the infectious
agent through surveillance andcontainment.
“All or none phenomenon”. E.g.Smallpox

CONCEPTOFCONTROL
63
MONITORING: Defined as“the performance
and analysis of routine measurement aimed at
detecting changesin the environment orhealth
status of population.” e.g. growth monitoringof
child, Monitoring ofair pollution, monitoring of
water quality etc.
SURVEILLANCE: Defined as“the continuous
scrutiny of the factors that determine the
occurrence and distribution of diseaseand
other conditions of ill health.” E.g.Poliomyelitis
surveillance programme of WHO.

CONCEPTOFPREVENTION
64
Primordial prevention
Primary prevention
Secondary prevention
Tertiary Prevention

LEVELSOF PREVENTION
65
Primordial Prevention:
Prevention from RiskFactors.
Prevention of emergence or development of
RiskFactors.
Discouraging harmful life styles.
Encouraging or promoting healthy eating
habits.

LEVELSOF PREVENTION
66
PrimaryPrevention:
Pre-pathogenesis Phaseof adisease.
Action taken prior to the onset of the disease:
Immunization & Chemo-prophylaxis

LEVELSOF PREVENTION
67
SecondaryPrevention:
Halt the progress of adiseaseat its incipient
phase.
Early diagnosis & Adequate medical
treatment.
TertiaryPrevention:
Intervention in the late PathogenesisPhase.
Reduceimpairments, minimize disabilities &
suffering.

MODESOFINTERVENTION
68
Intervention is any attempt to intervene or
interrupt the usual sequencein the development
of disease. Fivemodes of intervention
corresponding to the natural history ofany disease
are:
Health Promotion
Specific Protection
Early Diagnosis andAdquate Treatment
Disability Limitation
Rehabilitation

HEALTHPROMOTION
69
It is the processof enabling people to increase
control over diseases,and to improve their
health. It is not directed against any particular
diseasebut is intended to strengthen the host
through avariety of approaches(interventions):
Health Education
Environmental Modifications
Nutritional Interventions
Lifestyle and Behavioral Change

SPECIFICPROTECTION
70
Someof the currently available interventions
aimed at specific protectionare:
Immunization
Useof specificNutrients
Chemoprophylaxis
Protection against OccupationalHazards
Avoidance ofAllergens
Control of specific hazardsin general
environment
Control of Consumer Product Quality &Safety

EARLYDIAGNOSIS&TREATMENT
71
Though not aseffective and economical as‘Primary
Prevention’, early detection and treatment are the
main interventions of diseasecontrol, besidesbeing
critically important in reducing the high morbidity
and mortality in certain diseaseslike hypertension,
cancer cervix, and breastcancer.
Theearlier the diseaseis 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.

DISABILITYLIMITATIONS
72
TheObjective is to prevent or halt thetransition
of the diseaseprocessfrom impairment to
handicap.
Sequenceof events leading to disability&
handicap:
Disease→Impairment →Disability→ Handicap

DISABILITYLIMITATIONS
73
Impairment: Lossor abnormality of
psychological, physiological/anatomical
structure or function.
Disability: Any restriction or lack of ability to
perform an activity in amanner considered
normal for one’s age,sex,etc.
Handicap:Any disadvantage that prevents one
from fulfilling his role considerednormal.

REHABILITATION
Rehabilitation hasbeen defined asthe ‘combined
and coordinated useof
medical, social, educational andvocational
measures for training and retraining the
individual to the highest possible level of
functional ability”
Areasof concern in rehabilitation:
Medical Rehabilitation
Vocational Rehabilitation
SocialRehabilitation
Psychological Rehabilitation 75

Finally we havefinished the course.
76
Best of Luck!

CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE

More from Suraj Dhara

Recently uploaded

CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE