Health is defined as a state of being free from illness or injury i.e. complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or illness. Most people assume they are in good health simply because they feel no pain or any difficulty in their bodies, however some illnesses or health complications take long to manifest externally.
In the African society, if someone is able to eat and drink without any difficulties is termed as a healthy, if someone is able to move from one place to another without any disturbance it’s considered healthy too. And if someone has some extra pounds on their bodies is a sign of being healthy. little did we know that extra pounds can turn into obesity which come with a lot of challenges such as heart and blood related diseases which can take ages to be healed if not detected on time.
Laboratory findings and the presence of symptoms are thus important and necessary elements in thinking about the state of health and the presence of a disease but are not sufficient to reach a decision about someone’s health.
There is an important consequence of working with this definition of health. To establish whether someone is in good health, the doctor must explore how individuals who have a disease feel about it, how the disease influences their lives, how they propose to fight their disease or live with it. This is where most of us find a problem, should we be told that this disease has no permanent cure/remedy and we have to live with it with the only available measures, we feel like we are dead already and we won’t see tomorrow. Someone who isn’t strong enough to hold such bitter truth can easily try taking their lives whether counselled or not.
It is necessary to view the disease in the background of the person who has it in order to make a judgment about his or her level of health. There is little doubt about the fact that going about the treatment of diseases in this way would improve the practice of medicine and make it a more realistic as well as a more human endeavour. In Uganda a lot of people self-medicate them selves forgetting that different diseases have same symptoms. Most people assume every fever is malaria, headaches go with paracetamol and colds go antibiotics. Some prefer using herbs which are prescribed by community elders or local herbalists forgetting different bodies respond differently. what might have worked for me might not work for you and same applies to modern medicine. Self-medication can work for you by Gods grace but when it refuses, most times we are sorry that we can’t save a life or it will cost us an arm and leg to overcome it. This shouldn’t stop us from giving first aids as we seek professional help since first aid is instant from skilled or non-skilled persons.
Health is not about just feeling well but how to handle our fragile wealth with all our strength. from what we feed our bodies, how we treat our selves including when to work and when to rest, what to do when unwell starting with us and our loved ones not limited to the people with in our circles.
Health is wealth, lets guard it and treasure it.
