Health: an issue of social justice

Health: A issue of social justice

Health has evolved, over the centuries, from an individual concern to a worldwide social goal. A brief account of the changing concepts of health is given below:

1. biomedical concept

Traditionally, health has been viewed as an absence of disease, and if one was free from disease, then the person was considered healthy. This concept , known as the biomedical concept has its basis in the germ theory of  disease which dominated medical thought at the turn of twentieth century. The medical profession viewed the human body as a machine and disease as a consequence of the breakdown of the machine. One of the doctor’s tasks was to repair the machine. Thus health, in this narrow view, became the ultimate goal of medicine.

The criticism that is levelled against the biomedical concept is that it has minimized the role of the environmental, social, psychological and cultural determinants of health. The biomedical model, for all its spectacular success in treating disease, was found inadequate to solve some of the major health problem of mankind by elaborating the medical technologies. Developments in medical and social sciences led to the conclusion that the biomedical concept of health was inadequate.

Health is on one hand a highly personal responsibility and on the other a major public concern. It thus involves the joint efforts of the individual, the community and the state.

2. psychosocial concepts

Contemporary developments in social, psychological, cultural, economic, and political factors must be taken into consideration in defining and measuring health. In other words, health is not only a biological but also a social phenomenon.

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The power of faith

THE POWER OF FAITH

Most people translate faith as belief. Faith is not mere belief. It is much more than that. It is a strong belief along with understanding, trust and confidence. The difference between the two is easier explained with explained.

If people have a mere blind belief in god without a study of religion and philosophy, when they face a tragedy in their lives they may lose belief in god. This happens often. But when we have faith in God, which is belief  strengthened with understanding that the lord is omnipotent, omniscient and all-loving, the more the troubles that assail us, the more does our faith deepen.

1. faith includes a clear understanding that what we have faith in, will always be there for us. Faith is also knowing that even though we may be small and helpless by ourselves, we are strong and secure along with what we have faith in.

2. faith gives you a great deal of courage and security.

3. try to recall pictures and paintings of great saints and religious leader. Their faces are full of joy and serenity. They have no fear or worry. This is because they have full faith in god. However terrible their problems, they know that God is with them and that he will either solve their difficulties or give them the strength to face them.

4. this does not mean that we can just sit down and pray and expect everything to come our way. No! we must do whatever we can and then have the faith that god is with us and love us. Do your best and leave the rest to god.

For example, if the exams are fast approaching and a student sits down and prays without studying properly, can he do well? Certainly not. He should study and be well- prepared. Then if he pray also he can write the exam with confidence.

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Smile your way through

SMILING YOUR WAY THROUGH

A smile is an expression of happiness. A smile brings brightness and beauty to any face. It is a friendly way of reaching out to the others. A smile is a sign of love, hope and joy.

  1. What is special about smiling?

The answer lies in this poem on the value of smile.

It brings rest to the weary,

Cheer to the glum, sunshine to the sad,

Be it in a palace or a slum.

You can’t beg, borrow or steal it,

Nor buy it, whatever you pay.

For it has no value at all,

Unless it’s given away.

Smiling is a pleasurable, easy way to popularity.

  1. Research has proved that a smile radiates great energy. Just as the energy behind gravity and electricity exists but cannot be seen, so too the smile energy has real power in influencing other people. It improves the mood of the person at whom the smile is flashed. This is because a smile seems to say, “ I am happy to see you . “  Everyone likes to see a smiling person. It makes people fell liked and everyone wants to be liked.
  2. Smiling add beauty to the face.

Most  people look their  best when they smile. This is the reason why a photographer asks people to smile just before he clicks.

4. Smiling lightens your heart and problems seem smaller when you smile through them.

“A smile acts up on difficulties as the sun acts up on clouds – it disperses them,” says the divine mother of Aurobindo Ashram.

A smile is so because it radiates joy and harmony.smile

 

5. you know that the way you feel affects the way you behave, but do you know that the way you behave also affects the way you feel? Extensive research that shows that our behavior influences our emotions. Nowadays, psychologists advise people not to slouch when they are sad but to sit straight, not to drag their feet but rather to walk briskly; and to smile, not frown.

6. smiling is unique to humans alone.

Have you ever realized that, of all the living beings on earth , only humans are capable of smiling? Animals cannot smile, though they sometimes look like they do

We can make others happy , in many more ways than other beings can. We can begin by gifting smiles to everyone we know.

7. make others smile.

A smile is double blessing because it gladdens the hearts of both the person who smiles and the person who receives the smile.

8. Even nature seems to want us to smile more and frown less.

Even we smile we feel bright and full of energy. When we frown, we usually feel dull and gradually get a headache. This is because we need the use of far fewer facial muscles when we smile than when we frown. In this way nature seems to tell us to smile more and frown less.

 

Hope everyone will  start to smile after reading this.