The health of individuals and populations depends on a variety of factors, including medical care, behaviors that promote well-being, and societal determinants like social conditions and economic resources. The definition of health aims to capture all of these aspects of well-being, rather than simply focusing on the absence of disease.
Despite the broad focus of this definition, there are critics who argue that the WHO definition is too vague and equivocal. For example, they point out that it does not distinguish between different ways that people feel about being ill or their experiences of living with illness. Furthermore, they argue that the WHO definition fails to consider whether a person’s state of being healthy is independent from the circumstances and demands of his or her life.
Some of these critiques revolve around the way that the WHO definition is used by public health agencies. The goal of many public health programs is to increase access to healthcare services and resources, such as vaccinations, treatment options, and support groups. These goals have led to a focus on the physical and mental wellbeing of a population, which is reflected in the WHO definition of health.
A further criticism concerns the way that the definition of health is used in clinical medicine. While a definition of health as the absence of disease is logical, clinicians usually view it as more than that. Rather, they see the concept of health as something that is derived from the quality of a person’s life and their abilities to adapt to changing situations.