The WHO Definition of Health - Criticisms and Options

 The WHO Definition of Health - Criticisms and Options

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of health, as identified in Huber (2011), is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.  The criteria listed in this definition at first appears comprehensive.  However, even though this definition encapsulates many aspects of health, it was identified that one of the main terms used in this definition, “complete”, is difficult to objectively measure.   To use the term “complete” means it is an absolute.  In application to the definition, anyone who has any type of physical, mental or social condition, no matter what, would be deemed to be unhealthy.  The term of “complete” has also resulted in the expansion of medical technology in order to ensure the complete healthiness of an individual.  With more medical technology and medications to treat also comes the identification of further medical conditions in people.   Even though this is beneficial for science, less humans based on the definition would be considered healthy, even if the medical condition is not affecting their way of life.

The 1948 WHO definition was also based on the nature of the times.  Huber (2011) explained that at the time acute diseases were the focus towards health recovery.  Since then, there has been a change in focus to the increasing number of chronic diseases that now exist.  If this definition is applied to modern times, knowing this change in disease patterns, the number of people considered to be “healthy” would be significantly less and not as correct or applicable as a definition should be.

With the global population of approximately 7.8 billion humans (Worldometer, n.d.) comes the logical rationalization that most people in the world will have different conditions, diseases and overall health issues that to try and fit everyone into “one jar” would be impossible.   At some point in everyone’s lives we will be ill and this can range from a cold to a physical injury or even develop a mental health issue and the list can go on.  As it is inevitable that everyone will get ill the focus of a definition of health needs to switch to a wellness and adaptive piece so that people can also be considered “healthy” based on how they cope with their condition. 

In my research for a different definition of health I was able to locate one which contained more of a wellness-like model.  According to a University of Ottawa medical program (n.d.), this wellness model “was amplified in the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.  The definition held that health is ‘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’”.   The ability to realize and cope with one’s physical, mental or social concerns, which the WHO definition does not include, should be just as important in order to be considered healthy.  The person is still able to thrive and be happy with the life as it now presents and is able to adapt and stay functional in society.   The ability to cope within the environment takes into account the differences in climate, culture, government and overall financial and societal differences which exist around the world.  With this wellness definition we are not “painting everyone with the same brush”, it allows latitude in where someone resides to be healthy based on external factors which some we may not be able to control and will need to adapt to.  In comparison to the WHO health definition, the development of an acute or chronic disease or the treatment of a condition found through updated medical technology and medications, should not change one’s determination of being healthy as long as the person is able to satisfy their needs and aspirations in relation to their environment.  The use of the physical, mental and social well-being terminology is no longer considered to be complete as an absolute but interpretative to the individual. 

 

Sources:

Definitions in Health. (n.d.). CMED620 Measurement in Health. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from www.med.uottawa.ca/courses/CMED6203/Index_notes/Definitions%20of%20Health.htm

Huber, M. (2011). Health: How should we define it? British Medical Journal, 343,(7817), 235-237. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4163 (link http://www.jstor.org/stable/23051314)

World Population Projections (n.d.).  Worldometer.  Retrieved on October 9, 2021, from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-projections/