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Health cannot be easily described. A holistic approach to ones health need be considered. A holistic approach to health “is about caring for the whole person — providing for your physical, mental, spiritual, and social needs. It's rooted in the understanding that all these aspects affect your overall health, and being unwell in one aspect affects you in others” (Holland, T.M, 2018). A holistic approach to health is important for the population, especially with increasing anxiety and depression levels as well as socio-economic factors. Achieving complete mental, physical and social health can be challenging. A holistic approach to health “is about caring for the whole person — providing for your physical, mental, spiritual, and social needs. It's rooted in the understanding that all these aspects affect your overall health, and being unwell in one aspect affects you in others” (Holland, T.M, 2018). It is important to note that unhealthy aspects from mental health can affect ones physical health and so forth. The Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (2020) believe that treatment of the whole body can create the balance of mind, body, and spirit that results in optimal health. The word optimal should be brought to focus, this allows differentiation of one persons health from another. Optimal health for someone living with a chronic disease, such as COPD, will be different than someone with no history of respiratory disease.
In 1948 The World Health Organization defined health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In recent years this definition has become out dated, due to changing diseases, chronic diseases, nutrition, and sanitation, as stated by Huber (2011).
In the twenty-first century it is often expected that as one ages they will manage a chronic illness, which is sadly the truth with todays aging population. Due to the increase in chronic disease, this would mean by definition by WHO (1948) that this portion of the population does not depict ‘health’. WHO (1948) also makes use of the word ‘complete’, which makes their definition of health less achievable. For today’s population it would be very hard to achieve complete physical, social, and mental well-being, given today’s society.
If you look at the health of people in Haiti versus Canada, for example, knowing nothing about the two countries, you may make assumptions on health of the populations. This is where socio-economic factors play a role in ones health. Health Equity is an important determinant of ones optimal health.
Health equity discusses the concept of every person having an equal opportunity to
achieve their optimal health. This concept is different than the idea of everyone
having equal health, but rather equal access to resources needed to improve or
maintain health (WHO, 2017).
This is important to note regarding world health. Every person in Canada, Haiti, or the world have equal accesses to healthcare, therefore, not having equal opportunity to achieve their optimal health. “In essence, health inequities are health differences that are socially produced, systematic in their distribution across the population, and identifying a health difference as inequitable is not an objective description, but necessarily implies an appeal to ethical norms” (WHO, 2010). Figure A below simplifies health equity and how its factors directly affect health outcomes for a given population.
Figure A:
Figure adapted from the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy’s simplified representation of Solar & Irwin’s (2010) CSDH WHO Conceptual Framework (Morrison, 2017)
.
References:
Holland, T.M., Dignity Health. (January 24th, 2018). What is Holistic Health Care,
Huber, M. (2011). Health: How should we define it? British Medical Journal,
343,(7817), 235-237. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23051314
Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (n.d.). Holistic Health Guide.
Ontario Public Health Association. (n.d.). What is Health Equity?
Solar, Irwin. (2010). World Health Organization: A Conceptual Framework For Action On
the Social Determinants of Health. https://www.who.int/sdhconference/resources/
ConceptualframeworkforactiononSDH_eng.pdf
World health organization. (1948). What is the WHO definition of health
https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions
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