Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain (as in "good health" or "healthy"). The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Although this definition has been subject to controversy, in particular as lacking operational value and because of the problem created by use of the word "complete", it remains the most enduring . Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications, including the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), are commonly used to define and measure the components of health.
Systematic activities to prevent or cure health problems and promote good health in humans are undertaken by health care providers. Applications with regard to animal health are covered by the veterinary sciences. The term "healthy" is also widely used in the context of many types of non-living organizations and their impacts for the benefit of humans, such as in the sense of healthy communities, healthy cities or healthy environments. In addition to health care interventions and a person's surroundings, a number of other factors are known to influence the health status of individuals, including their background, lifestyle, and economic and social conditions; these are referred to as "determinants of health".
Read more about Health: Determinants of Health, Mental Health, Maintaining Health, Occupational Health
Other articles related to "health":
... The inquest concluded, "'Housing is a mental health issue and the absence of decent housing is a major determinant of health." A foundation to fund "a housing project for homeless men with mental health ... and non-medical organization for psychiatric survivors of the Mental Health System who also experience homelessness and would be considered 'hard to house' people," and The Edmond ...
... The effect of neoliberalism on global health, particularly the aspect of international aid involves key players such as Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the International Monetary ... Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP's) which slash government health spending and are an unsustainable source of foreign aid ... The reduced health spending and the gain of the public health sector by NGOs causes the local health system to become fragmented, undermines local control of health programs and contributes to local social ...
... Fallon Clinic was the creator of Fallon Community Health Plan, a now independent HMO based in Worcester, and one of the largest health maintenance ...
... agitated, without success, for the government to make radical reforms of medical care and health services in Canada ... of socialized medicine and formed the Montreal Group for the Security of People's Health ... to the Soviet Union to observe first hand their system of health care ...
... Azawakh have no known incidence of hip dysplasia ... There is a small occurrence of adult-onset idiopathic epilepsy in the breed ...
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“To get time for civic work, for exercise, for neighborhood projects, reading or meditation, or just plain time to themselves, mothers need to hold out against the fairly recent but surprisingly entrenched myth that “good mothers” are constantly with their children. They will have to speak out at last about the demoralizing effect of spending day after day with small children, no matter how much they love them.”
—Wendy Coppedge Sanford. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, introduction (1978)
“The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own cast- off griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)