Concept of health and disease

1. Concept of Health & Disease

2. Learning Objectives
At the completion of this unit, learners will be able to:
• Discuss the terms of health, disease, and well-being.
• Describe the concept of causation.
• Understand the health indicator.

3. Health
• Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-
being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
(WHO, 1948)
• Health is the level of functional and metabolic efficiency of a
living organism.
• In humans it is the ability of individuals or communities to
adapt and self-manage when facing physical, mental,
psychological and social changes with environment.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health)

4. Disease
• A condition of abnormal vital function involving
any structure, part, or system of an organism.
(Medical Dictionary, 2017)
• Any harmful deviation from the normal structural
or functional state of an organism, generally
associated with certain signs and symptoms
and differing in nature from physical injury.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease)
Burhan Uddin, Karachi
4

5. Illness
• A condition of being unhealthy in your body or
mind.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illness)
• A subjective state in a human marked by feeling
s of deviation from the normal healthy state
(http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/illness)

6. Wellness
• A dynamic state of health in which an individual
progresses toward a higher level of functioning,
achieving an optimum
balance between internal and external environ
ments.

7. Wellbeing
• A state of health, happiness and prosperity, which is
affected by various factors, including: a balanced
diet, regular exercise, supportive relationships, adequate
financial resources, stimulating work, education and
leisure activity,
health monitoring, preventive services (e.g., screening
and vaccination), and risk management to protect
individuals and promote personal safety.
(http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/well-being)

8. Concept of Causation

10. Concept of Causation
• Understanding about the cause of the disease/s is
important in health field not only for prevention; but
also in
• Diagnosis of the disease
• Application of the treatment
• Cause of disease is an event, condition,
characteristic, or combination of these factors which
play an important role for producing the disease.
• A cause should be sufficient or necessary

24. Guidelines for Causation
Bradford Hill (1965) suggested that following aspects of
association to be considered in attempting causal from non-
causal associations:
• Temporal Relations
• Plausibility
• Consistency
• Strength
• Dose response relationship
• Reversibility
• Judging the evidence

41. Health Indicator
• A Health indicator is a characteristic of an individual,
population, or environment which is subject to measurement
(directly or indirectly) and can be used to describe one or more
aspects of the health of an individual or population (quality,
quantity and time).
• A health indicator is a single measure that is reported on
regularly and that provides relevant and actionable information
about population health and/or health system performance
and characteristics.
• An indicator can provide comparable information, as well as
track progress and performance over time.

42. Health Indicator
• Health indicators are quantifiable characteristics of a
population which researchers use as supporting
evidence for describing the health of a population.
• Health indicators are often used by governments to
guide health care policy.

43. Determinants of Disease in
Individuals & Community
• The range of personal, social, economic, and
environmental factors that influence health status are
known as determinants of health.
• Determinants of health fall under several broad
categories:
• Policymaking
• Social factors
• Health services

44. Conclusion
• Knowledge of causation is an integral part of
epidemiology as it enables the individuals to
• Make proper diagnosis
• Formulate the correct treatment plan
• Take necessary measures to in prevention of certain
disease/s