Health Hygiene & Sanitation

Lesson 02 : Definition Of Health And Community Health

Definitions Of Health

Operational Definition Of Health

Why operational definition?

WHO definition does not allow direct measurement of health which hampers the epidemiological studies of health, hence the operational definition.

WHO study group has provided the operational definition as a “Condition or quality of the human organism expressing the adequate functioning of the organism in a given condition, genetic or environmental” in a broad sense.

In a narrow sense – health means…

1. There is no obvious evidence of disease and a person is functioning normally i.e confirming within normal limits of variation to the standards of health criteria generally accepted for one’s age, sex, community and geographic region.
2. Organs of the body are functioning adequately in themselves and in relation to one another implying a kind of equilibrium or homeostasis.

New Philosophy Of Health

New philosophy accepted recently

• Health is a fundamental human right
• Health is the essence of productive life and not the result of ever increasing expenditure on medical care.
• Health is inter-sectoral
• Health is an integral part of development.
• Health is central to the concept of quality of life.
• Health involves individual’s, state and international responsibility.
• Health and its maintenance is a major social investment.
• Health is a worldwide social goal.