Sunday, October 12, 2008

CHANGING CONCEPTS



1.BIOMEDICAL CONCEPT

Traditionally, health has been viwed as an “absence of disease”,
And if one was free disease, then the person was considered healthy. This concept, known as the “biomedical concept” has the basis in the “germ theory of disease” which thought at the turn of the 20th century. The medical profession viwed the human body as a machine,disease as a consequence of the breakdown of the machine and one of the doctor’s task as repair of the machine (4). Thus health, in the narrow view, became the ultimate goal of machine.

The criticism that is leveled against the biomedical concept is that it has minimized the role of the environmental,social,psychological and cultural determinants of health. The biomedical madel,for all its spectacular success in treating diseased,was found inadequate to solve some of the major health problems of mankind (e.g., malnutrition,chronic diseases, accidents,drug abuse,mantal illness,environmental pollutin,population explotion ) by elaborating the medical technologies. Developments in medical and social sciences led to the conclusion that the biomedical concept of health was inadequate.

2.ECOLOGICAL CONCEPT

Deficiencies in the biomedical concept gave rise to other concepts. The ecologists put forward an attractive hypothesis which viewed health as a dynamic equilibrium between man and his environment, and diseased a maladjustment of the human organism to environment. Dubos (5)defined health saying : “ Health imples the relative absence of pain and discomfort and a continuous adaptation and adjustment to the environment to ensure optimal function”. Human ecological and cultural adaptation do determine not only the occurrence of disease but also the availability of food and the population explotion. The ecological concept raises two issues, viz. imperfect man and imperfect environment. History argues strongly that improvement in human adaptation to natural environments can lead to longer life expectancies and a better quality of life – even in the absence of modern health delivery services (6).

3.PSYCHOSOCIAL CONCEPT

Contemporary development in social science revealed that health is not only a biomedical phenomenon.. but one which is influenced by social. Psychosocial, cultural, economic and political factors of the people concerned (6). These factors must be taken into consideration in defining and measuring health. Thus health is both a biological and social phenomenon.

4.HOLISTIC CONCEPT

The holistic model is a synthesis of all the above concept. It recognized the strength of social, economic, political and environmental influences on health. It has been variously described as a unified or multidimensional process involving the well-being of the whole person in the contex of his environment. This view corresponds to the view held by the ancient that health implies a environment. The holistic approach implies that all sectors of society have an effect on health,in particular,agriculture. Animals husbandary. Food,industry,education,housing,public work,communication and others sectors (7). The emphasis is on the promotion and protection of health.

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