Understanding Health Equity and Prevention
We all know what health means, but we often confuse it with the word happiness. Many people would define health as having a good physical body, while others believe that health refers to a person’s ability to enjoy life. However, health is more than just having a good body. Having a healthy mind and spirit plays an important role in keeping your body, mind, and spirit in optimum health.
“Heath,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is “an essential state of total well-being through bodily processes that reduce the risk of death or disease.” Various definitions have been applied to health, with some being used consistently over time. Health is considered to be necessary, advantageous, and protective against many kinds of diseases and conditions. A well-balanced diet, adequate physical activity, and proper and timely sleep and rest are components of a healthy lifestyle. In order to achieve optimal health, a person must practice a healthy lifestyle, which includes a well-balanced diet, regular physical activity, and a nutritious, well-balanced diet and regular bed rest.
There are many types of mental health, including anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Health professionals refer to these conditions as psychological illnesses. Experts have identified several factors that contribute to mental illness. These factors include; early life experiences that produce lasting affects on the person’s capacity for happiness and well-being, a history of abuse or neglect, a genetic predisposition for mental illness, deprivation, unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, and low self-esteem.
When speaking of mental disorders, there is a tendency to use the word disease, even though diseases are nothing more than malignancies. Disease, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means “that may be cause or result from the infliction of another.” Another use of the word disease is when referring to a malady like cancer. Cancer is a disease, but it is not a malady, and if you were to say that cancer is a sickness, it would be accurate, depending upon your point of view. A definition of sickness is: “an abnormal state or condition of the body generally characterized by pain, debility, impairment or disease.”
The third definition of health is the absence of illness or disease. One could look at this in two ways. On the one hand, absence makes an individual healthy, because absence signifies a state in which the body is not being abused. Disease on the other hand, refers to a situation in which the body has been overburdened or abused in some way, causing it to become sick or otherwise physically unable to function normally. absent or disease may be relative to a person’s age, sex, cultural norms, culture, or other circumstances.
Health care providers work to prevent health equity and promote health by reducing health disparity and promoting healthy living through a number of practices. Prevention is better than cure, as the old saying goes, and the best way to prevent disease is through practicing healthy behaviors and making sure that other people are too. Healthy behaviors include getting regular checkups, exercising, consuming recommended nutritional supplements, and avoiding hazardous substances or activities. Healthy habits and lifestyle choices can also help prevent health inequities by improving the health of those who live in or around those areas. Those who do not practice healthy habits may end up suffering from premature death or other health conditions that can put them at greater risk for long-term disease.
