What is Health?

Badash and colleagues discuss how a new, flexible definition of health taking into consideration all of each patient's needs, is necessary in the context of new value-based healthcare. Reference: Badash I, Kleinman N P, Barr S, et al. (February 09, 2017) Redefining Health: The Evolution of Health Ideas from Antiquity to the Era of Value-Based Care . Cureus 9(2): e1018. doi:10.7759/cureus.1018

Sartorius explains the consequences of using the existing WHO definition of health, exploring the need for a scale system rather an an absolute of "healthy" or "unhealthy" states. Reference: Sartorius N. The meanings of health and its promotion. Croat Med J. 2006 Aug;47(4):662-4. PMID: 16909464; PMCID: PMC2080455.

Saracci pokes holes in WHO's definition of health “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” He argues that this is not an achievable state of being. Reference: Saracci, R. (1997). The world health organization needs to reconsider its definition of health. British Medical Journal, 314 (1409). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.314.7091.1409

Huber and colleagues argue that the WHO definition of health as complete wellbeing is no longer fit for purpose given the rise of chronic disease. Reference: Huber M, Knottnerus J A, Green L, Horst H v d, Jadad A R, Kromhout D et al. How should we define health? BMJ 2011; 343 :d4163 doi:10.1136/bmj.d4163

Ashcroft and Van Katwyk explain new definition of health from a social worker lens, and argue that social workers should be a key part of conversations moving forward. Reference: Ashcroft, R., and T. Van Katwyk (2016). Joining the Global Conversation: Social Workers define health using a participatory action research approach. British Journal of Social Work Advance Access, 0, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1093.bjsw/bcw005

Van Druten and colleagues conducted a literature search exploring different concepts of health and questioning whether a global definition of health is appropriate. Reference: Van Druten, V. P., Bartels, E. A., Van de Mheen, D., Kerckhoffs, A. P. M., and L. M. W. Nahar-van Venrooij (2022). Concepts of health in different contexts: a scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 22(389). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07702-2

An article exploring different perceptions of health globally. Reference: Desmouceaux, C., Dewhurst, M., Maurel, D., & Pautasso, L. (2022, September 19). In sickness and in Health: How Health is perceived around the world. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/in-sickness-and-in-health-how-health-is-perceived-around-the-world

The authors of this article urge readers to consider the perspectives of people living with disability and chronic conditions as we continue the conversation of redefining health. Reference: Krahn, G. L., Robinson, A., Murray, A. J., Havercamp, S. M., & The Nisonger RRTC on Health and Function (2021). It's time to reconsider how we define health: Perspective from disability and chronic condition. Disability and Health Journal, 14(4), Article 101129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101129