Health

Inspite of the much popularised definition of the WHO that health " is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being  and not merely absence of disease and illness ", it is not difficult to see that there is nothing like absolute health. Health and health problems can be understood only when they are seen within their social and regional context at different periods of time. If health is defined as the well being of man, then it can be said that to acquire the material basis for well being , man acts upon nature and in the process develops technology and social relations , both of which ,in turn , determine his well being. In other words , the health status of individuals and groups is largely determined by the economic , technological, cultural and political forces which in themselves reflect the growth of productive forces and the social relations within which production takes place. Health or well being , therefore , cannot be a static concept since different natural environments , social formations, nature of technologies and different levels of the material basis for life will tend to have different quantities as well as qualities of well being of the people.
Even within any of these combinations the quantity and quality of health would continue to change over time since it is a dynamic quantity determined by the changing social, biological,and technological forces. The contents of the concept of well being, i.e. health , are not confines to the phyical well being alone if we accept the above paradigm.
Dr R. S. Dahiya