Health and Disease

• Health


  The state of physical and mental wellbeing
• Disease


  Often responsible for causing ill health
• Types of diseases


  • Communicable
  • Non-communicable
• Communicable diseases

  • Can spread from person to person or between animals and people
  • Caused by things like bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi
  • Sometimes described as contagious or infectious diseases
  • Examples: measles and malaria
• Non-communicable diseases


  • Cannot spread between people or between animals and people
  • Generally last for a long time and get worse slowly
  • Examples: asthma, cancer and coronary heart disease
• Diseases with weakened immune system


  Increased chance of suffering from communicable diseases
• Certain viral infections


  Can trigger some types of cancer
• Infection by pathogen


  Can trigger allergic reactions or worsen asthma symptoms
• Severe physical health problems

  Can trigger mental health issues like depression
• Other factors affecting health

  • Diet
  • Stress
  • Life situation (access to medicines, healthy food, prevention)