Summary Health, Health Determinants And The EU

Exam
Part 1: What is the European Public Health:

What is health:

The historical development of the term ‘health:
1) Hippocrates: physis= the state of balance between different elements
2) Aristotle: Eudaimonia= personal well-being, a continuous process of
development.
3) 19th century: = absence of disease

The definitions of health:
WHO: ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
o Criticism: considered utopian; when is a state ‘complete’? complete is not
measurable.

 Huber: positive health: ‘Health as the ability to adapt and to self-manage’

 Leonardi: = ‘the capability to cope with and to manage one’s own malaise and well-
being conditions’

 Commers: ‘ health is stated as a ‘phenomena-labeled as health’ due to different
dimensions to health: subjectivity, intersubjectivity and objectivity’

 "phenomena-labeled-as-health" =
expression used to define all the kind of embodiments which are labeled as health in
different occasions. This labelling is conducted at an individual and social level.

- Intersubjectivity= when two or more people agree on labeling as health a
phenomenon, this decision was developed through interpersonal perception and
communication
- Subjectivity= when an individual decides to label a phenomenon as health for
himself. This labelling is conducted by personal taste and individual expression
- Objectivity= aspects of medical discipline which should remain ‘untouched’

What is public:

Definitions of public:
 = a political community that is subject to the normative constraints it imposes on
itself, whatever they may be, and however they are established.
= concerning a community or nation I general
= involving all people in general rather than a specified group
= public as a political community subject to political environment
= society/ statistical product
 3 sets of meanings of ‘public’ :

, 1) Population, citizens
2) Space for action
3) Set of values

 Is ‘public’ the correct term? Yes because:
- Represents a group of people fighting a
common purpose
- Health of a society as a whole
- It implies state funded and no specific
privileged group

 Public actors assuring public health:
- Medical universities
- Hospitals
- Individuals
- DGs
- Institutes

-The health of public is the sum of all the health status of all members of the population
 Three levels of health
1) dependence on individual
2) distributive dimension
3) a greater dimension where number cannot be specified


What is Public Health:

Definitions of PH:
 = “Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and
promoting health through the organized efforts of society.” by the Acheson Report.
- = “The process of mobilizing local, state/provincial, national, and international
resources to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy.” by Detels and
Breslow.

 Prevention Paradox:
First the exposure to risk factors in a population must be observed
Then 2 groups are formed: low risk group and high risk group
- Low risk group: the majority
- High risk group: minority

Rose’s definition:
= a large number of people exposed to a small risk may generate many more cases than
a small number exposed to a high risk

- The majority of cases of a disease come from a population at low or moderate risk of
that disease, and only a minority of cases come from the high-risk population (of the
same disease). This is because the number of people at high risk is small.