Generally, the context in which an individual lives is of great importance for both his health status and quality of life. It is increasingly recognized that health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science, but also through the efforts and intelligent lifestyle choices of the individual and society. According to the World Health Organization, the main determinants of health include the social and economic environment, the physical environment and the person's individual characteristics and behaviors.
Mental illness is described as 'the spectrum of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral conditions that interfere with social and emotional well-being and the lives and productivity of people. Having a mental illness can seriously impair, temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person. Other terms include: 'mental health problem', 'illness', 'disorder', 'dysfunction'.
Section 1331 of the Affordable Care Act gives states the option of creating a Basic Health Program (BHP), a health benefits coverage program for low-income residents who would otherwise be eligible to purchase coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. The Basic Health Program gives states the ability to provide more affordable coverage for these low-income residents and improve continuity of care for people whose income fluctuates above and below Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) levels.
L’Inrae (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) a récemment fait le point sur les recherches en cours issues du mouvement One Health - une seule santé. Dans un contexte délicat, l’approche One Health vise à impliquer l’ensemble des acteurs de la santé humaine, animale et environnementale dans une réflexion commune.
Samuel Soubeyrand, lui, est directeur de recherche de l'unité Biostatistique et Processus Spatiaux. Il pratique l'épidémiosurveillance, une méthode d'analyse mise en avant pendant la crise du SARS-CoV-2. “L'alerte sanitaire que la Chine aurait pu émettre à l'époque aurait certainement permis de déceler cette maladie émergente, désormais connue sous l'appellation de Covid-19. La bataille de la détection a été perdue”, déclare-t-il. “La gagner nous aurait permis d'anticiper l'épidémie, d'adapter les plans d'actions et de lutte sanitaire, ou encore d'initier des recherches de laboratoire spécifiques au SARS-CoV-2.” Pour détecter de manière précoce les potentielles épidémies futures, l'épidémiosurveillance repose sur deux leviers, d'après M. Soubeyrand : l'analyse des données métagénomiques des populations, et l'analyse des “autres” données, celles des réseaux sociaux, des recherches internet de symptômes, de la fréquentation des parkings hospitaliers, etc.
An increasing number of studies and reports from different organizations and contexts examine the linkages between health and different factors, including lifestyles, environments, health care organization and health policy, one specific health policy brought into many countries in recent years was the introduction of the sugar tax. Beverage taxes came into light with increasing concerns about obesity, particularly among youth. Sugar-sweetened beverages have become a target of anti-obesity initiatives with increasing evidence of their link to obesity.– such as the 1974 Lalonde report from Canada; the Alameda County Study in California; and the series of World Health Reports of the World Health Organization, which focuses on global health issues including access to health care and improving public health outcomes, especially in developing countries.
The environment is often cited as an important factor influencing the health status of individuals. This includes characteristics of the natural environment, the built environment and the social environment. Factors such as clean water and air, adequate housing, and safe communities and roads all have been found to contribute to good health, especially to the health of infants and children. Some studies have shown that a lack of neighborhood recreational spaces including natural environment leads to lower levels of personal satisfaction and higher levels of obesity, linked to lower overall health and well being. It has been demonstrated that increased time spent in natural environments is associated with improved self-reported health , suggesting that the positive health benefits of natural space in urban neighborhoods should be taken into account in public policy and land use.
Just as there was a shift from viewing disease as a state to thinking of it as a process, the same shift happened in definitions of health. Again, the WHO played a leading role when it fostered the development of the health promotion movement in the 1980s. This brought in a new conception of health, not as a state, but in dynamic terms of resiliency, in other words, as "a resource for living". 1984 WHO revised the definition of health defined it as "the extent to which an individual or group is able to realize aspirations and satisfy needs and to change or cope with the environment. Health is a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living; it is a positive concept, emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities". Thus, health referred to the ability to maintain homeostasis and recover from insults. Mental, intellectual, emotional and social health referred to a person's ability to handle stress, to acquire skills, to maintain relationships, all of which form resources for resiliency and independent living. This opens up many possibilities for health to be taught, strengthened and learned.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the conceptualization of health as an ability opened the door for self-assessments to become the main indicators to judge the performance of efforts aimed at improving human health. It also created the opportunity for every person to feel healthy, even in the presence of multiple chronic diseases, or a terminal condition, and for the re-examination of determinants of health, away from the traditional approach that focuses on the reduction of the prevalence of diseases.
This article was co-authored by Lisa Bryant, ND. Dr. Lisa Bryant is Licensed Naturopathic Physician and natural medicine expert based in Portland, Oregon. She earned a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon and completed her residency in Naturopathic Family Medicine there in 2014. This article has been viewed 2,974,726 times.