Health & wellbeing

• health & wellbeing:

  overal state of a persons physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual which is charcterisied by an equilibrium in which an individual is happy, healthy, capable, and engaged
• Disease: physical or mental disturbance
• illness: subjective, related to persons experience
• Dynamic: constantly changing
• subjective: persons own interpretation
• resource individual:

  • work and earn a stable income.

  • Parents are able to afford to feed their children, preventing malnutrition.

  • People can do the things they enjoy (e.g. playing sport).

  • People can lead independent lives with limited reliance on others.
• resource National:

  Increase in income for the country (GNI) allows the country to compete with others.

  • Governments can use the income to develop better health care systems to further improve health and enable universal health care.

  • Less absenteeism at work increases workplace productivity.

  • When individuals are healthy, there is less reliance on public health care systems, promoting

  sustainability of the health system.
• resource globally

  • Morbidity and mortality are reduced, allowing countries to work together to combat broader issues such as climate change.

  • With more countries moving into the high-income category, these nations can work together to help eradicate poverty in the many low-income countries and achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

  • When more individuals have their needs met (e.g. food), they are less likely to partake in conflict to

  meet their individual/national needs, promoting world peace and security.
• Peace


  Refers to the absence of conflict. This reduces the risk of premature death, injury and disability that commonly arises from conflict.

  • by having less conflict it reduces the stress and anxiety of getting displace
• Shelter


  Adequate shelter provides protection and a safe place for people to spend their time and pursue activities, such as study, that promote health and wellbeing. It also shields people from extreme weather events and protects them from infectious diseases.
• Education


  Increases the ability of people to earn an income and improve their socioeconomic status, allowing them to afford resources required to obtain higher levels of health and wellbeing. Education also improves literacy; literate people are more likely to understand the importance of a balanced diet, regular exercise, hygienic practices, and are more likely to understand health promotion messages.
• Food


  Access to a reliable food supply promotes optimal functioning of the body systems, prevents malnutrition and allows people to have enough energy to lead productive lives free from illness. Adequate nutrition strengthens the immune system, which is required to fight off pathogens and prevent illness.
• Income


  Allows people to purchase resources such as food, health care, education and shelter that promote health and wellbeing as well as reducing financial stress and anxiety. Higher individual incomes also mean higher tax revenue for the government to spend on improving public health, education systems, and infrastructure, so people can experience a higher quality of life.
• Stable ecosystem


  An ecosystem is a community that consists of all the living and non-living components of a particular area. A stable ecosystem means that all living things are having their needs met without causing detrimental effects to the natural environment.
• Sustainable resources


  Refers to whether current resources required for good health and wellbeing are available for future generations also, so that they can too experience a good quality of life. It ensures that the basic resources (e.g. food and water) can be regenerated at the same rate that they are used up.
• Social justice


  Refers to equal rights and opportunities for all, regardless of sex, class, income, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, etc. Social justice requires that everyone is treated fairly, and have equal access to formal education, meaningful employment and fair pay, adequate shelter, food and water, health care, community participation, etc.
• Equity


  Relates to fairness and is about providing every person with the resources they need to lead a healthy life. Note that is different from 'equality' or 'social justice' which refer to giving everybody the same access to things/resources, whereas 'equity' is about meeting the minimal needs of individuals to promote their health and wellbeing. Equity means that there should be minimum levels of income and resources that everyone has access to and promotes health and wellbeing by ensuring access to education, employment, human rights, and other resources such as healthcare irrespective of personal factors such as religion, age, or race.
• Self-assessed health status


  A measure based on a person's own opinion of how they feel about their health and wellbeing, their state of mind, and their life in general
• Life expectancy


  An indication of how long a person can expect to live; the number of years of life remaining to a person at a particular age if death rates do not change
• Health adjusted life expectancy (HALE)


  An estimate of the number of healthy years that a person born in a particular year can expect to live based on current trends in deaths and disease patterns
• Morbidity


  The level of ill health in an individual and levels of ill health in a population or group
• Mortality


  The number of deaths caused by a particular disease, illness, or other environmental factor
• Maternal mortality


  The number of deaths of women while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy due to or aggravated by the pregnancy, childbirth, or associated treatment, not due to accidental or incidental causes
• Maternal mortality rate


  The number of deaths per 100,000 live births of women while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy due to or aggravated by the pregnancy childbirth, or associated treatment, not due to accidental or incidental causes
• Infant mortality


  The number of deaths among children aged under 1 year in a given period
• Infant mortality rate


  The number of deaths among children aged under 1 year in a given period, per 1,000 live births for that period of time
• Under 5 mortality


  The number of deaths of children under the age of five
• Under 5 mortality rate (U5MR)


  The number of deaths of children under the age of five, per 1,000 live births
• Burden of disease


  A measure of the impact of diseases and injuries. Specifically, it measures the gap between current health status and an ideal situation in which everyone lives life to an old age free of disease and disability
• Disability adjusted life years (DALYs)

  A measure of burden of disease
• Years of Life Lost (YLL)

  Healthy years of life lost due to premature death. This is the fatal component of a DALY
• Years Lost due to Disability (YLD)


  Healthy years of life lost due to illness, disease, injury or disability. This is the non-fatal component of a DALY
• Incidence


  The number or rate of new cases of a particular condition during a specific time
• Prevalence


  The number or proportion of total cases of a particular disease or condition present in a population at a given time
• Smoking


  One of the leading causes of death in Australia, and is largely preventable as it is linked directly back to tobacco smoking
• Smoking


  • Increases blood pressure
  • Causes atherosclerosis (build-up of plaque on blood vessel walls)
  • Inhibits blood flow
  • Increases risk of heart attack and stroke
  • Causes cardiovascular disease
• Smoking


  • Causes DNA damage
  • Can cause different types of cancers
• Excessive consumption of alcohol


  Increases burden of disease for conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
• Excessive consumption of alcohol


  • Adds kilojoules to one's diet
  • Can lead to obesity
  • Can inhibit glucose regulation
  • Can cause high blood pressure
  • Can cause stroke
• High body mass index

  Contributes largely to burden of disease in Australia as it causes conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancers