HEALTH RESPONSIBILITY

Health as an Individual Responsibility

Health as an Individual Responsibility

Introduction

The famous saying "health is wealth" gives an important meaning to our life. Good health is the most precious and valuable possession for every individual. Good health not only means that a person having no disease but also a fully mental, physical and social well being of an individual. If a person losses his health he also lost the charm of the world. Health is the ability of a person to change him continually with the changing conditions of life in order to function better in the present and to prepare well for the future challenges.

A healthy and better health for all people has become an established international objective and percentage of life expectances have been increased over the previous century with the invention of latest technology and improvements in the policies regarding health. But discrimination of health between poor people and rich people still persist, while globalization plays a vital role in the policies regarding health and visions for future health.

Discussion

There is a statement that good health is your responsibility. This shows an idea that health being entirely one's own responsibility, without taking into account the several external factors that affect the human health. Although health is largely depends upon individual's choices, behaviour, lifestyle and attitudes, determinant such as environmental factor, socioeconomic and socio-cultural also affect the health of public. Also health as a social construct has a large impact. This makes the concept of health being completely determined by an individual unrealistic. There are some non modifiable determinants that are not in the control of an individual and need a large scale changes for the implementation. Unfortunately, in the present time to be healthy is quite difficult. Doctors believe that fifty percent of health depends on a healthy lifestyle, twenty percent - from inheritance, ten percent - the level of development of medicine.

Different Perspectives on Health

Health is viewed as a right, as consumption good, and as an investment. Some view health as a right similar to justice or political freedom. The constitution of World Health Organization states that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without the distinction of race, religion, political-belief, economic or social condition”. Others view health as an important individual objective of material aspect i.e. as consumption good. The third view considers health as an investment, indicates health as an important prerequisite for development because of its consequence on the overall production through its effect on the productive ability of the productive force. These different views indicate differences in the emphases given to health by governments and globally.

Public Health

As the world around us is progressively becoming complex and interconnected, health of human beings are increasingly observed as the integrated result of its economic, ecological, institutional and social cultural determinants. As a result, it can be observed as an essential high level integrating index that reveal the state and in long term the sustainability of ...