What is the World Health Organization for? Health as defined by the charter of the WHO is. WHO activities and its role in the world

JANUARY 2017

Theme of the issue – Health statistics 1

Statistical reports of the World Health Organization

The Global Health Observatory (GHO) produces analytical reports on the current situation and trends in priority health issues. The WHO Global Health Observatory provides updated health statistics throughout the year. Its online database contains detailed information on over 1,000 health indicators. It can be used to obtain the latest health statistics at the global, regional and country levels.

Global Health Observatory website:

The main document of the SDO is the annual report "World Health Statistics", published since 2005. The report is an authoritative source of information about the health of people in the world.

It contains data from 194 countries on a range of indicators on mortality, morbidity and health systems, including life expectancy; morbidity and mortality from major diseases; health services and treatments; financial investment in health care; and risk factors and behaviors that affect health.

According to the 2016 World Health Statistics report annually 2:

• 303,000 women die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth;
• 5.9 million children die before the age of five;
• There are 2 million new HIV infections, 9.6 million new tuberculosis cases and 214 million malaria cases;
• 1.7 billion people suffering from "neglected tropical diseases" need treatment;
• More than 10 million people die before the age of 70 from cardiovascular disease and cancer;
• 800,000 people commit suicide;
• 1.25 million people die in road traffic accidents;
• 4.3 million people die as a result of air pollution caused by cooking fuels;
• 3 million people die as a result of environmental pollution;
• 475,000 people die violent deaths, of which 80% are men.

To solve these problems, it is necessary to fight the risk factors that contribute to the development of diseases. Today all over the world:

• 1.1 billion people smoke tobacco;
• 156 million children under the age of five are stunted and 42 million children under the age of five are overweight;
• 1.8 billion people drink polluted water and 946 million people take their natural needs outdoors;
• 3.1 billion people use predominantly polluting fuels for cooking.

Since 2000, life expectancy has risen sharply worldwide, according to the Report, but serious health inequalities persist both between and within countries.

Between 2000 and 2015, life expectancy increased by five years, the fastest rate of growth since the 1960s. These advances are making a dramatic difference and overcoming the decline that occurred in the 1990s, when life expectancy declined in Africa as a result of the AIDS epidemic and in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The largest increase in life expectancy occurred in the WHO African Region, where it increased by 9.4 years to 60 years, driven mainly by factors such as improved child survival rates, advances in malaria control, and increased access to to antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection.

“The world has made great strides in reducing unnecessary suffering and premature death from preventable and treatable diseases,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “However, progress has been unevenly distributed. The best thing we can do to ensure that no one is left behind is to help countries move forward towards achieving universal health coverage based on an effective primary health care system.”

The average life expectancy for children born in 2015 was 71.4 years worldwide (73.8 years for girls and 69.1 years for boys), but the prognosis for an individual child depends on where he or she was born . The report shows that the average life expectancy of newborns in 29 high-income countries is 80 years or more, while the life expectancy of newborns in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa is below 60 years.

The longest life a woman can expect to live is in Japan, where the average life expectancy for women is 86.8 years. The highest average life expectancy for men - 81.3 years - is observed in Switzerland. The world's lowest life expectancy for both sexes is recorded in Sierra Leone - 50.8 years for women and 49.3 years for men.

Healthy life expectancy, i.e. the number of years lived in good health, for a child born in 2015 globally averages 63.1 years (64.6 years for girls and 61.5 years for boys ).

This year's World Health Statistics report provides the latest data on the health targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. The report points to significant data gaps that need to be filled in order to be able to reliably monitor progress towards the health-related SDGs.

For example, approximately 53% of deaths worldwide go unreported, although some countries - including Brazil, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, South Africa and Turkey - have made significant progress in this area.

While the Millennium Development Goals focused on achieving a narrow range of disease-specific health targets by 2015, the SDGs cover the period up to 2030 and are much broader. For example, the SDGs include the broad health goal of promoting healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, which calls for universal health coverage.

Full text of the report in English on the website of the World Health Organization:

Publications of the World Health Organization

• European health report 2015 Targets and a wider perspective – new frontiers in evidence. - WHO Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen. 2015 - 157 pages

Published every three years, The European health report provides readers, including decision makers, policy makers, public health professionals and journalists, with an objective picture of public health and health outcomes in the WHO European Region, as well as progress towards better health and well-being all people. The report shows trends in the European Health 2020 policy, progress towards achieving its goals, and at the same time some gaps, inequalities and shortcomings that require further action.

The 2015 report provides data showing continued improvement in health outcomes in the Region and reductions in some health inequalities across countries, such as life expectancy and infant mortality. However, for these indicators, the gap between the countries with the best and worst values ​​is still 11 years of life and 20 healthy babies per 1000 live births, respectively. Absolute differences between countries are still unacceptably large, especially in indicators related to social determinants of health. It is also clear from the report that the European Region continues to hold the top spot in the world in terms of alcohol consumption and smoking.

• Kai Michelsen, Helmut Brand, Peter Achterberg, John Wilkinson. Measures to integrate health information systems: best practices and challenges. - WHO Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen. 2016 - 33 pages

This report examines trends in the Member States of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association regarding the way in which health information systems are integrated. It presents the results of a survey conducted among experts from 13 EU countries, as well as a review of the literature, which provide a better understanding of what is meant by integration from a pragmatic perspective.

The summary report provides the following need-related policy options for further study:

• continue to work on "core elements" (quality data availability, data inventories and registries, standardization, legislation, physical infrastructure and human resources) and more "conceptual" sets of indicators;
• define what is meant by "improved integration" and demonstrate the specific benefits of integration;
• build a leadership structure for capacity building to further integrate health information systems;
• promote further exchange of information on work in this area.

Full text of the publication in Russian on the website of the WHO Regional Office for Europe:

• Toolkit for evaluating information systems and developing and strengthening health information strategies. - WHO Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen. 2015 - 104 pages

Quality health information helps the public health policy-making process. During a meeting in December 2013, the Standing Committee of the Regional Committee requested the WHO Regional Office to develop a toolkit to support Member States in building and improving their national health information systems through the development of national health information strategies. This will help countries in the process of implementing the European Health 2020 policy. The availability of good-quality information, supported by reliable information systems, can help Member States identify areas for action to address Health 2020 policy priorities and evaluate the effectiveness of specific actions and interventions.

This toolkit builds on existing methodological tools developed by the WHO-established Health Metrics Network. This manual covers all steps in the process of developing a health information strategy, from reviewing the current state of information systems and developing the strategy itself, to implementing and evaluating it. Moreover, it addresses all the different elements of health information systems such as governance, databases and resources. This will allow flexibility in the application of the tool: Member States can either use it in its entirety or choose specific steps or elements that require particular attention or are of priority in their country contexts. This toolkit has been designed to be adaptable to different health information system development and policy development situations in the countries of the WHO European Region.

Full text of the publication in Russian on the website of the WHO Regional Office for Europe:

• Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators, 2015. - World Health Organization. Geneva. 2015 - 134 pages

The Global List of 100 Essential Health Indicators is a standard set of 100 indicators that can be used to provide reliable information for assessing the health situation and trends, both globally and nationally. It is periodically updated and supplemented. This publication provides a list of key indicators as of 2015.

• Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators, 2015: Metadata

Full text in English on the website of the World Health Organization:

• Framework model and standards for national health information systems. Second edition. – World Health Organization. Geneva. 2014 - 63 pages

The Health Metrics Network (HMN) was established in 2005 to help countries and other partners improve global health by strengthening systems that provide health information for evidence-based decision making. The HHM is the first global health partnership focused on two key conditions for strengthening health systems in low- and middle-income countries. The first is the need to strengthen all health information and statistical systems in general, rather than focusing only on specific diseases. The second is the focus on strengthening country leadership in obtaining and using health information. It became clear that in order to meet these needs and develop global health, it is urgent to establish coordination and placement of partners within the framework of an agreed plan for the development of national health information systems.

The HMN Framework is not intended to replace existing guidelines that provide detailed information on the elements of health information systems. On the contrary, they will aim to find relevant existing standards and promote their application. This proactive approach is expected to evolve over time, incorporating new developments, country experiences and partner contributions. This publication contains extensive information on various aspects of health information systems obtained through consultation meetings and country visits. It is expected that its edition will be regularly updated as HMS develops and health information systems improve. The HMN Framework is expected to help build consensus on the vision, standards and processes that a health information system should provide.

Full text in Russian on the website of the World Health Organization:

• Levels & Trends in Child Mortality. Report 2015 (Levels and trends in child mortality. Report 2015). - UNICEF / WHO / World Bank / United Nations. 2015 - 36 pages

This report presents the latest estimates of infant and child mortality for 2015 at the national, regional and global levels. It also provides an overview on methods for estimating child mortality.

Full text in English on the website of the World Health Organization:

• Global Health Estimates: Proposals on the way forward. Summary of a Technical Meeting WHO, Geneva, 13-14 February 2013. - World Health Organization. Geneva. 2013 - 4 pages

Global, regional and national population health statistics and indicators are essential for assessing the development and progress of global health and its resource base. There is a growing demand for timely data such as age-specific mortality rates, cause-specific mortality, prevalence of various diseases and risk factors, and comparative estimates of mortality and disability from various diseases. But demand is especially strong for comprehensive assessments across the spectrum, including for noncommunicable diseases and injuries. Since there are currently major challenges and issues in the collection of mortality and health statistics, adjustments to baseline data and totals are needed to make comprehensive and comparable estimates. Time series estimates for childhood and adult mortality and by cause of death, including deaths from HIV infection, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal deaths and the predominant causes of child mortality, are published by UN agencies. More than 60 experts from around the world and staff from UN agencies gathered for a WHO meeting to assess the status quo in health statistics to:

Take stock of current and new approaches related to global health assessment;

Discuss and agree on ways to improve existing assessment practices, including data availability, country capacity building, model selection, sharing of data, methods and assessment development tools.

Full text in English on the website of the World Health Organization:

• The utility of estimates for health monitoring and decision-making: global, regional and country perspectives. Report of a technical meeting (WHO, Glion sur Montreux, Switzerland 24–25 June 2015) -25 June 2015) - World Health Organization. Geneva. 2015 - 27 pages

In June 2015, the WHO Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems invited medical statisticians from different countries and institutions to a two-day learning and consensus meeting to develop global estimates based on the use of statistical indicators. The following issues were discussed at the meeting:

Studying the use of health assessments for the development and planning of health policies in countries;

Providing advice to WHO on improving the handling of global health assessment statistics so that they are relevant to country needs;

Identify ways to improve the ability to use national statistics to generate your own estimates using standardized methods and tools.

Full text in English on the website of the World Health Organization:

• ICD-11 Revision Conference. report. Tokyo, Japan 12-14 October, 2016 - World Health Organization. Geneva. 2016 - 12 pages

In October 2016, WHO and Member States reached a milestone towards the completion of the ICD-11. The 11th ICD Revision Conference was held in Tokyo, Japan, October 12-14, 2016. The Conference considered the recommendations of the Joint Task Force, which is the coordinating group for the development of the ICD-11 version on morbidity and mortality statistics. The Joint Task Force provides WHO with strategic and technical advice to complete the development of the ICD-11. The focus is on recommendations for subclasses of ICD-11, which will be included as codes for morbidity and mortality statistics for use in international reporting. In addition, the Joint Task Force considered recommendations for the proper structuring of these codes for tabulation and aggregation. The Joint Task Force also provided guidance for the development of a reference manual that includes rules for coding morbidity and mortality. This report contains a brief description of the materials of the conference.

WHO is the largest international medical organization. The main goal of its activity is the achievement by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. For the first time at the international level, the WHO Charter proclaimed the right of every person to health, approved the principle of government responsibility for the health of their peoples, and also indicated the inextricable link between health and international security and the strengthening of science. The World Health Organization was created after the Second World War, when great changes took place in the political and socio-economic life of the countries of the world.

WHO structure.

The supreme body of the WHO is the World Health Assembly, which consists of delegates representing the member states of WHO, no more than 3 delegates are allocated from each country, one of which is the head of the delegation. Delegates are usually employees of their country's health department. They must be highly qualified and have specialized knowledge in the field of health care. Delegates are usually accompanied by advisers, experts and technical staff. Regular sessions of the Assembly are convened annually. The Assemblies determine the directions of WHO activities, consider and approve long-term and annual work plans, budget, issues of admission of new members and deprivation of the right to vote, appoint the WHO Director-General, consider cooperation with other organizations, establish sanitary and quarantine requirements, safety standards , purity and strength of biological and pharmaceutical products traded internationally. Between sessions of the Assembly, the supreme body of WHO is the Executive Board, which meets in regular sessions 2 times a year - in January and May. The Executive Committee consists of 32 members - representatives of the state, elected for 3 years.

The central administrative body of WHO is the Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, who is elected by the Assembly for a term of 5 years on the proposal of the Executive Board. The secretariat is headquartered in Geneva.

The Director General carries out all the instructions of the Assembly and the Executive Committee, submits annual reports to the Assembly on the work of the organization, manages the daily activities of the apparatus that makes up the secretariat, and also draws up financial reports and budget estimates. The General Director has 6 assistants, one of them is a representative of the Russian Federation.

According to the Constitution, WHO functions as the directing and coordinating body in international health work.

WHO develops and improves international standards, nomenclature and classification of diseases, promotes their spread.

In addition, WHO organizes medical research and provides technical assistance to governments in strengthening national health care. WHO promotes the adoption and implementation of international conventions, agreements and regulations in the field of health.

The main activities of WHO are:

Strengthening and improving health services;

Prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases;

Protection and improvement of the environment;

Maternal and child health care;

Training of medical personnel;

health statistics;

Development of biomedical research.

Hello dear friends. Today we will talk about what the World Health Organization (WHO) is, what tasks it performs, what it does and why it is needed. The main task of this organization is to ensure a healthy and safe future for all inhabitants of the planet Earth.

WHO bases are located in 150 countries of the world. The organization itself was founded on 04/07/1948 in order to eliminate the consequences of the Second World War and help residents of different countries. This day, April 7, is celebrated annually as World Health Day.

What does

WHO leads and coordinates the activities of all medical organizations around the world under the auspices of the United Nations (UN). To accomplish this goal, it performs the following tasks:

• Supports partnerships between countries in solving common problems in the field of health.
• Leading in all matters related to the health of the population of the entire planet.
• Coordinates research activities in the field of health protection and the fight against various diseases.
• Organizes educational activities in the field of prevention and prevention of dangerous diseases.
• Supports the implementation of healthcare standards around the world.
• Helps countries to introduce new areas of medicine into practice, provides support with medical devices and specialists.
• Develops new types of medical care and assesses the health status of the population, both in individual countries and in general around the world.

Activities

Since WHO faces global challenges that can help improve the health of people around the world, it is interested in the emergence and development of a strong health system in all countries.

It helps the governments of countries interested in improving the health and living conditions of their residents to organize an effective system of medical care.

This structure organizes the process of providing medical and humanitarian assistance in case of natural disasters, major accidents and man-made disasters. In addition, WHO is addressing the following issues:

• Particular attention is paid to the prevention and treatment of diseases such as strokes, oncology, diabetes, asthma, heart and lung diseases, mental illness, as well as trauma and the consequences of violent actions, which are the cause of premature death in 70% of all cases of premature death. And 80% of all these diseases occur in developing countries, which, unfortunately, Russia can be attributed to these indicators.
• Observation of the environmental situation around the world, as well as the desire to improve the living standards of the population of third world countries, which will increase their life expectancy.
• Fight against the centers of infectious diseases, especially such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, development of the scope of preventive vaccinations.
• Rapid response and assistance in cases of environmental disasters, monitoring the situation in the field of protecting health and life.
• International cooperation in the field of health care is provided by seven thousand WHO employees in 150 countries of the world.

Programs and projects

Next, we will talk about the most popular programs and projects implemented by WHO. One of the directions of the programs for the improvement of the nation is the fight against hepatitis. The WHO estimates that 257 million people are infected with hepatitis B worldwide. Is it a lot or a little?

Considering that 7.52 billion people currently live on the planet, more than 3% of adults and children are infected. Given that hepatitis can be treated with antiviral drugs, stopping the growth of the disease and localizing its foci is the most important task of WHO and health authorities around the world.

Tobacco control

It is no secret that diseases caused by smoking tobacco products are among the top ten causes of premature death. Therefore, in 2007, WHO declared the fight against tobacco smoking one of the main programs for the improvement of the nation.

This year, the results for the past decade were summed up. Many countries, including Russia, supported the WHO initiative to limit the possibility of purchasing tobacco products and smoking them in public places.

Age classification for the right to purchase tobacco products allows you to limit addiction to tobacco at an early and young age. More than 60% of the world's population are aware of the dangers of smoking, and in 10 years their number has increased 4 times. This indicates the undoubted success of the anti-tobacco program.

vaccination campaign

WHO informs that every tenth child from the group of children under 1.5 years of age has not been vaccinated against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus, although it is determined that it is at this age that such vaccinations are most effective and protect against these deadly diseases.

Only 130 countries out of 194 can guarantee infant vaccination rates of 90% or more. So in this direction, WHO still has many unresolved tasks. As a minimum program, this is the implementation of vaccination at each contact of the unvaccinated population with medical services.

In Soviet times, our state actively cooperated with WHO and many programs were successfully implemented in the USSR and are still in operation.

On this I say goodbye to you. I hope that the topic has been touched upon, so subscribe to new articles on our site and give a link to it to your friends and relatives on social networks.

Even in the last century, a woman of 30 years old was considered elderly. Upon admission to the maternity ward, the expectant mother was classified as an old-bearer and was given disapproving glances. Today the situation has changed radically. Now a 40-year-old pregnant woman surprises few people. This is due to the increase in human life expectancy and other criteria.

The trend has forced the world community to reconsider the existing age limits. In particular, the WHO classification of ages has changed.

WHO classification

According to available data, the World Health Organization divides people into the following groups and categories:

When compiling the table, doctors were guided by improving the health and appearance of a person, increasing the ability to bear children, maintaining working capacity for many years, and other factors.

Gradation remotely resembles the division into certain groups and periods of life that existed in ancient Rome. At the time of Hippocrates, the age of up to 14 years old was considered youth, 15-42 years old maturity, 43-63 years old age, above that - longevity.

The change in periodization, according to scientists, is due to an increase in the intellectual level of mankind. Thanks to this, the body independently slows down the aging process, pushing back withering and the inevitable end. The peak of the intellectual development of a modern person falls on 42-45 years. This provides wisdom and, as a result, high adaptability.

According to statistics, over the years, the number of the population, whose age is 60-90 years old, increases 4-5 times faster than the general figures.

This and other criteria determine the gradual increase in the retirement age in a number of countries around the world.

The influence of age on a person

However, the age classification of the World Health Organization is not able to change the consciousness of a person. In remote settlements, people still consider 45 years and more to be practically the pre-retirement age.

Women who have overcome the forty-year threshold are ready to give up on themselves. Many older ladies abuse alcohol and smoking, stop caring for themselves. As a result, a woman loses her attractiveness, quickly ages. Subsequently, psychological problems arise that aggravate the situation. If a woman or a man feels really old, then no adjustments in the classification of a person's age according to WHO are able to change the situation.

In this case, the patient needs high-quality timely assistance from a professional psychologist. Experts recommend reconsidering life and finding a new meaning in it. It can be a hobby, work, caring for loved ones, travel. A change of scenery, positive emotions, a healthy lifestyle contribute to an improvement in the emotional state and, as a result, an increase in life expectancy.

As for the male part of the population, it is also prone to depression. As a result, representatives of the strong half of humanity in middle age destroy families, creating new ones with young girls. According to psychologists, in this way men try to keep the passing years.

Now the midlife crisis on average occurs about 50 years, increasing from year to year. A few decades ago, its peak was 35 years.

It is worth noting that the country of residence, economic and environmental situation, mentality and other factors affect the psycho-emotional state.

According to previous studies, the real age gradation and periodization is different. Residents of European countries consider the end of youth at 50 +/-2 years. In Asian countries, many 55-year-olds feel young and not ready to retire. The same applies to residents of a number of states in America.

The classification of ages adopted by the World Health Organization is a generalized indicator that changes with a certain interval. Based on them, you can prepare the body for subsequent senile changes, reorient yourself in time, find a hobby, etc.

In each case, the gradation should take into account the individual characteristics of a person. Modern medical equipment and technologies make it possible to keep the body in good shape for many years.

WHO DEFINITION OF HEALTH

In the preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) c. health is interpreted as “a state of a person, which is characterized not only by the absence of diseases or physical defects, but by complete physical, mental and social well-being”. This definition can be seen as idealized, but it provides an opportunity to see the broad meaning of the concept of "health".

A variation of this approach can be considered the definition of health as biological and social well-being (K. Bayer, L. Sheinberg, 1997). The biological essence lies in the ability of the biosystem to self-organize through the mechanisms of homeostasis, adaptation, reactivity, resistance, etc. Manifestations of the social function are carried out on a biological basis with the involvement of the highest levels of personality organization - mental and spiritual qualities. (G.A. Apanasenko, 2003).

Brigitte Tobes in her speech “The Right to Health: Theory and Practice” (WHO, 2006) linked the concept of health with the concept of reliability: “No matter how scientists approach the definition of the concept of health, their main interest is focused on identifying those mechanisms that ensure normal life organism, its reliability as a biological system. The concepts of "health" and "reliability" in this sense are very close. In both cases, it is assumed that there are no significant disturbances in the functioning of the body and its constituent parts. There is much in common in the ways of restoring the lost norm. The reliability of a biosystem is also ensured by its ability to adapt and compensate for impaired functions on this basis, the perfection and speed of using feedback, the dynamism of the interaction of its constituent links of self-regulating subsystems .... An analysis of the essential characteristics of health made it possible to identify four main conceptual models for defining the concept of health: medical, biomedical, biosocial and value-social.

The medical model assumes a definition of health that contains only medical signs and characteristics of health.

The biomedical model considers health as the absence of organic disorders and subjective feelings of ill health in a person.

The biosocial model in the concept of "health" includes biological and social characteristics. These signs are considered in unity, but at the same time, priorities are given to social signs.

The value-social model recognizes health as a basic human value, a necessary prerequisite for a full life, satisfaction of the spiritual and material needs of the individual. This model is most consistent with the WHO definition of health.”

So, physical health either fell out of B. Tobes's field of vision altogether, or was dissolved in the models she cited. Several studies have asked children to define health in terms of its various components. And although children singled out physical health from many other contexts, this direction actually fell out of Brigitte Thobes' field of vision. But social health became just two. Tobes' priorities are visible, but this is no reason to narrow the concept of health in the social field.

WHO defines health through a synonymous word. Health is well-being. However, it is important to understand how WHO defines this concept quantitatively. A 2006 WHO report listed healthy life expectancy as a priority. It is important to understand that this primary parameter absorbs as a quotient many other parameters (such as child mortality, etc.). The WHO's opinion on what secondary parameters affect healthy life expectancy is interesting. “Parameters such as income, educational level and employment are of key importance. Although all three determinants are somewhat dependent on each other, they are not interchangeable: each of them reflects independent aspects of the socio-economic status of the population. We can only partly agree on this. Employment in itself means, if not the amount of income, then at least its availability. Therefore, employment should be considered as a kind of tertiary parameter that is related to the level of income. So, according to WHO, we consider the duration of a healthy life to be the primary parameter of health, the secondary ones in relation to it are the level of income and the level of education.

Polozov A.A. The terms of maximum life expectancy: what's new? [Text] / A.A. Polozov. - M .: Soviet sport, 2011. - 380 p.: ill
www.polozov.nemi-ekb.ru

Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being

It can be objectively considered that health is socially determined. The modern development of the social sciences has shown that it is not only a biomedical phenomenon. Social, psychological, cultural, economic and political factors must be considered in the characterization and criteria of health. In the preface to the Constitution of the World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being in the absence of disease or infirmity. In Russian literature, "a state of complete physical, spiritual and social well-being, and not just the absence of diseases and physical defects." This definition was later expanded to include the ability to lead a socially and economically productive life. Human health, like illness, is a new quality in comparison with other living beings on earth, a social phenomenon and socially mediated, i.e. including the impact of social conditions and factors. Health is a harmonious unity of biological and social qualities due to congenital and acquired biological and social influences. When assessing health, there are: individual, group, regional and public health. Individual health is the health of a particular person. Group health is the health of individual communities of people by age, professional, social and other characteristics. Regional health is the health of the population living in certain administrative territories. Public health is the health of the population, society as a whole. WHO experts refer to the criteria of public health: the percentage of the gross national product that goes to health care; accessibility of primary health care; infant mortality rate; average life expectancy.

Polozov Andrey

In connection with the above, it is necessary to single out such indicators characterizing public health as the potential of public health or a measure of the quantity and quality of people's health and its reserves accumulated by society, as well as the public health index, which reflects the ratio of healthy and unhealthy lifestyles. In practical work, terms are often used that reflect only one facet of the population's health: "mental health", "reproductive health", "environmental health", etc. The works of domestic and foreign scientists show that health is determined by four main factors, which are: socio-economic and lifestyle factors (50%); conditions and environmental factors (20–25%); biological conditions and factors (15–20%); conditions and factors of the health care system and service (10-15%).

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The decision to establish the World Health Organization was taken in 1946. The organization began its activities on April 7, 1948: on this day, 26 UN member states ratified the WHO Charter. Since 1950, April 7 has been celebrated annually as World Health Day.
Currently (2015), the WHO includes 194 states (including Russia).
The location of the WHO headquarters is Geneva (Switzerland).

The statutory tasks of the WHO are: the fight against especially dangerous diseases and their elimination, the development of international sanitary rules, the improvement of the sanitary condition of the external environment, the quality control of medicines, etc.

In accordance with the charter of the WHO, the goal of the organization is “the achievement by all peoples of the highest possible level of health” (Article 1).

Definition of "health" in the WHO constitution

The term "health" is interpreted in the preamble of the charter quite broadly, which allows WHO to deal not only with the fight against diseases, but also with many social problems. WHO's activities are aimed at solving a triune task: providing services on an international scale, providing assistance to individual countries and encouraging medical research.

WHO services provided to all countries are the publication of aggregated statistics on fertility, disease, epidemics, injuries, causes of death, etc. Assistance provided to individual countries at their request includes scholarships for study abroad, assistance in the elimination of rare but dangerous diseases, and in the improvement of special services.

During the existence of WHO, various programs and resolutions aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality have been developed and implemented (expanded program on immunization; program for the control and elimination of poliomyelitis, smallpox, cancer, etc.; global strategy in the field of diet, nutrition, physical activity and health, etc.), international classification of diseases, list of essential medicines, etc.

In 2003, WHO adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - a document aimed at protecting people's health from smoking.

WHO consists of three main bodies: the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board and the Secretariat. The highest body of WHO is the World Health Assembly; its main function is to set the general policy direction for WHO. It also appoints the Director-General of WHO on the recommendation of the Executive Board.

The annual sessions of the Assembly are held in May.
WHO has 147 country and six regional offices: European, African, Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, Western Pacific, American.

Official website of the World Health Organization (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish)

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Healthy and Beautiful » Human health

Human health

A healthy person is a full member of society. He is able to work normally, reproduce healthy offspring and provide himself with material goods at the proper level.

Health levels

Medicine defines human health as a state of the body in which all its systems function normally and reliably resist adverse environmental factors. In addition, this list includes the absence of anatomical defects and normal physical development. This is the so-called level of biological health.

Mental health reflects a person's ability to normal behavioral responses and the state of his intellect, emotions and cognitive functions. Social health is closely related to mental health, which is manifested in the labor and social activity of a person.

Thus, three components of human health can be distinguished:

• biological health
• Mental condition
• social health

The preservation and strengthening of human health largely depends on the level of development of the state in which he lives. Any civilized society cares about maintaining the health of each member, because this affects his performance and, as a result, the well-being of the society itself. Therefore, the state is taking certain steps to maintain the health of the population. This is the creation of high-quality health and preventive centers, the development of sports facilities, labor protection at enterprises.

social health

In recent years, the term "public health" has appeared, which is an indicator of the state of the population of a country as a whole. This indicator takes into account the level of morbidity, the degree of physical development, and average life expectancy. This also includes death and birth rates.

Between human health and disease, there is an intermediate state that combines the signs of both.

1. The definition of health given in the WHO constitution:

More than half of the population of any country is in this position. The person does not seem to be sick, but his vitality is significantly depleted. For example, vitamin deficiency does not immediately lead to disease, but over time it can occur.

According to medical statistics, 90% of the population of our country suffer from a lack of vitamin C. By itself, this figure is not catastrophic if it is a periodic (seasonal) problem. But a constant lack of vitamin C leads to quite serious consequences: the elasticity of blood vessels decreases, resistance to infections decreases and there is a risk of tumor diseases. Therefore, you need to start supporting the body even before problems make themselves felt.

GENERAL CONCEPT OF HEALTH

“In general, 9/10 of our happiness is based on health.

Charter (Constitution) of the World Health Organization

With it, everything becomes a source of pleasure, while without it absolutely no external benefits can give pleasure, even subjective benefits: the qualities of the mind, soul, temperament weaken and die in a diseased state. It is by no means without reason that we first of all ask each other about health and wish it to each other: it is truly the main condition for human happiness, ”the famous German philosopher of the 19th century said. Arthur Schopenhauer. Indeed, health occupies the most important place among human life values.

There are a number of definitions of health, but all of them usually contain the following five criteria:

Absence of diseases;

Normal functioning of the body in the system "man - environment";

Complete physical, spiritual, mental and social well-being;

The ability to adapt to constantly changing conditions of existence in the environment;

Ability to fully perform basic social functions.

There is a concept of individual and public health.

Individual health is the health of the individual. Today, this concept has a rather broad meaning, it implies not only the absence of diseases, but also such forms of human behavior that allow him to improve his life, make it more prosperous, and achieve a high degree of self-realization. For example, the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) states that health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

It is possible to achieve well-being only through work aimed at expanding and realizing one's spiritual, physical qualities and social capabilities.

Well-being concerns all aspects of a person's life, and not just his physical condition.

Spiritual well-being is associated with the mind, intellect, emotions. Social well-being reflects social ties, financial situation, interpersonal contacts. Physical well-being reflects the biological capabilities of a person, the state of his body. Human well-being includes two components: spiritual and physical.

At the same time, its spiritual component is of great importance. The ancient Roman orator Mark Tullius Cicero said about this about 2 thousand years ago in his treatise “On Duties”: what seems harmful and get everything you need for life: food, shelter, and so on. The desire common to all living beings to unite in order to produce offspring, and care for this offspring. But the greatest difference between man and beast is that the beast moves as far as his senses move him, and adapts only to the conditions around him, thinking little about the past and the future. On the contrary, a person endowed with reason, thanks to which he sees the sequence between events, sees their causes, and the previous events and no matter how the forerunners escape him, he compares similar phenomena and closely connects the future with the present, easily sees the entire course of his life and prepares for himself everything he needs to live. Human nature, above all, is the tendency to study and investigate the truth.

Spiritual and physical health- two integral parts of human health, which must constantly be in harmonious unity, ensuring a high level of health.

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There are three types of health: physical (somatic), psychological and social.

physical health(somatic) - the most important component in the complex structure of the state of human health. It is determined by the body's ability to self-regulate.

Physical health is a state of the human body, characterized by the ability to adapt to various environmental factors, the level of physical development, the physical and functional readiness of the body to perform physical activity.

The degree of physical health of a person is reliably established by medicine, using special differential diagnostic techniques.

Mental health indicators presented by a number of domestic authors (Grombakh A.M., 1988; Tkhostov A.Sh., 1993; Lebedinsky V.V., 1994; Karvasarsky B.D., 1982, etc.)

Taking into account complaints about the health of the person himself, there are four groups of people:

ü 1st group - perfectly healthy people, no complaints;

ü 2nd group - mild functional disorders, episodic complaints of an astheno-neurotic nature associated with specific psycho-traumatic events, tension of adaptive mechanisms under the influence of negative micro social factors;

ü 3rd group - persons with preclinical conditions and clinical forms in the stage of compensation, persistent asthenoneurotic complaints outside the framework of difficult situations, overstrain of adaptation mechanisms (such persons have a history of unfavorable pregnancy, childbirth, diathesis, head injuries and chronic infections);

ü 4th group - clinical forms of the disease in the stage of subcompensation, insufficiency or breakdown of adaptive mechanisms.

The transition from the psychological to the social level is conditional. Mental health is influenced by social factors, family, communication with friends and relatives, work, leisure, belonging to religion, etc. Only people with a healthy mind feel like active participants in the social system, and mental health itself is usually defined as involvement in communication, in social interaction.

Mental Health Criteria are based on the concepts of "adaptation", "socialization" and "individualization" (Abramova G.S., Yudchits Yu.A., 1998).

The concept of "adaptation "includes a person's ability to consciously relate to the functions of his body (digestion, excretion, etc.), as well as his ability to regulate his mental processes (control his thoughts, feelings, desires). There are limits to individual adaptation, but an adapted person can live in habitual him geosocial conditions.

Socialization determined by three criteria associated with human health.

ü The first one is connected with the ability to respond to another person as an equal to oneself. "The other is as alive as I am."

ü The second criterion is defined as a reaction to the fact of the existence of certain norms in relations with others and as the desire to follow them.

ü The third criterion is how a person experiences his relative dependence on other people. There is a necessary measure of loneliness for every person, and if a person crosses this measure, then he feels bad. The measure of loneliness is a kind of correlation between the need for independence, solitude from others and one's place among one's environment.

individualization, according to K.G. Jung, allows you to describe the formation of a person's relationship to himself. A person himself creates his own qualities in mental life, he is aware of his own uniqueness as a value and does not allow other people to destroy it. The ability to recognize and preserve individuality in oneself and others is one of the most important parameters of mental health.

Every person has the possibilities of adaptation, socialization and individualization, the degree of their implementation depends on the social situation of his development, the ideals of the normative person of this society at this particular moment.

However, one can also notice the insufficiency of these criteria for a complete description inner picture of health . In particular, it is also connected with the fact that any person potentially has the opportunity to look at his life from the outside and evaluate it ( reflection ). Essential feature reflective experiences is that they arise apart from the will and individual efforts. They are the prerequisites for the spiritual life of man, in which, unlike mental life, the result is the experience of life as a value.

The spiritual health of a person, as emphasized by many psychologists (Maslow A., Rogers K. and others), is manifested, first of all, in the connection of a person with the whole world. This can manifest itself in various ways - in religiosity, in feelings of beauty and harmony, admiration for life itself, joy from life.

Experiences in which communication with other people is carried out, correspondence to a specific ideal of a person and constitute the content of the inner picture of health as a transcendental, holistic view of life.

Characteristics of healthy people (according to A.

WHO constitution: principles

1) The highest degree of perception of reality

2) A more developed ability to accept oneself, others and the world as a whole as they really are

3) Increased spontaneity, immediacy

4) More developed ability to focus on a problem

5) More pronounced detachment and a clear desire for solitude

6) More pronounced autonomy and opposition to joining any one culture

7) Greater freshness of perception and richness of emotional reactions

8) More frequent breakthroughs to peak experiences

9) Stronger identification with the entire human race

10) Improvement in interpersonal relationships

11) More democratic character structure

12) High creativity

13) Certain changes in the value system

social health is reflected in the following characteristics: adequate perception of social reality, interest in the world around, adaptation to the physical and social environment, consumer culture, altruism, empathy, responsibility to others, democratism in behavior.

A “healthy society” is a society where the level of “social diseases” is minimal (Nikiforov G.S., 1999).

Social health includes:

social significance of certain diseases due to their prevalence, economic losses caused by them, severity (i.e. threat to the existence of the population or fear of such a threat);

The influence of the social structure on the causes of diseases, the nature of their course and outcomes (ie, the possibility of recovery or death);

· assessment of the biological state of a certain part or the entire human population on the basis of integrated statistical indicators that make up social statistics.

Thus, promising areas of health psychology are the study of health mechanisms, the development of health diagnostics (determination of health levels) and borderline conditions, the attitude of the health care system and prevention to healthy clients. The practical task is to create tests that are simple and accessible for independent use to determine health and the initial stages of diseases, and to form various preventive programs.

Despite the fact that mental health problems have been actively studied by domestic psychologists, health psychology as a separate field of knowledge is more common abroad, where it is more actively introduced into the practice of medical institutions. In modern Russia, health psychology as a new and independent scientific direction is going through the stage of its formation.