Monday 13 July 2015

What are the public and private components of health ?

I have always been confronted by this question.

What are the public and private component of health? Is health something we can package like the computer world performs such activities like we see search engines do?  I chose to partly pursue this interrogation through a scholarly path.

Theoretically and by definition, "health" is the sound physical or mental condition (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). It is also the level of functional or metabolical efficiency of a living organism. It is the ability of an individual or community to adapt and self manage when facing physical, mental and social challenges ( see Wikipedia).WHO, health is: "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. 

Health involves prevention, healing and care. Prevention can be all those activities one engages in to avoid getting ill, sick or not sound. Healing is making one sound or whole. Health care is a combination of efforts or initiatives to maintain or restore health. What one does as an individual must be done in such a way that it will promote soundness and wholeness for self and community. That is the nature of health. It is a highway that perennially connects as commune-members whether we like it or not. We, as individual, have the responsibility to keep our health sound. Our communities have the responsibility to keep our health sound. Awareness becomes important. This is both the public and private components of health that immediately come to my mind.

I am a volunteer with different teams here in San Francisco. I realize I have done much work around health. I came across a Livestrong article when I was running to fundraise money for a Cancer award. It listed 10 reasons for poor health. I read this article towards the end of 2014. The points are still fresh in my mind. One can access more details via Livestrong .com. The points are:
1. Smoking cigarettes
2. Poor feeding (I like to call it malnutrition)
3. Lack of sleep
4. Infectious diseases
5. Genetic disorders
6. Excessive Alcohol Consumption
7. Stress
8. Poor Oral Hygiene
9. Inactivity
10. Injuries

I hope this makes me an individual who is more responsible, I hope it enables me contribute towards sound health. I am sure I shall be a better community member and a ready person to help our communities have the responsibility to keep our health sound. I hope the 10 listed reasons for poor health will be something I can effectively help build interventions against.