WHO says that health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Hi Alejandro,
Personally, no not at all. The WHO (1986) definition is an oft-cited - but dated, convenient and 'catch-all' definition. Why they have never attempted to update their dated definition bemuses me - but it's part of the conceptual dilemma that follows 'health'. Health is many different things and can mean so many different things between individuals and organisations - that it is hard to 'pin down'. The term 'well-being', in itself, is a nebulous one. How can you rank or rate a concept such as well-being? Then add to that 'complete' - how many people have a complete something or absence of something. The original intention of the WHO to move away from 'health' as the traditional dominant biomedical model of someone who is not ill or doesn't need biomedical intervention - was with good intent - but it's time to move on now. It's time to raise the profile of public health, population health, community health etc - that takes the focus away from the health status of individuals towards the health status of whole communities, nations and, dare I say it, global health
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