Question

ABOUT HEALTH:

- How were diseases and their cures modeled?

- Let's discuss at least 3 chronic diseases. How do doctors determinec a person's propensity to diseases?

- What is the difference between personal model and population model? Which comes first?

- What are Social Determinants of Health? What is their role in Health Intelligence?

- What should go in a model used for health of a person?

Answer 1

1. Diseases and their cure were modeled by giving importance to the individual, propensity to diseases, environmental factors and factors influencing health-related behaviours of the individual, individual response to different treatment methods.

2. Cancer, diabetes, stroke are chronic diseases. It involves following a strict treatment regimen throughout life and living a healthy life paying attention to diet, exercises, stress and activities. Propensity to diseases depends on the age, gender, ethnicity/race, socioeconomics, body mass index, educational background, lifestyle or habits like alcohol consumption, smoking, exercises, etc.

3.Population model involves bringing together multivariate data from wide range of sources to simulate the lifecycle including individuals' disease states, risk factots and health determinants, in order to describe and project health outcomes and healthcare costs. It helps to assess the effect of policy and program interventions. Personal model of health relates to the person's perception of threat caused by health problems and value of taking preventive measures thereby affecting their health behaviour. The person's beliefs affect his health-related behaviour. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, personality, socioeconomics, knowledge are the modifying factors of health behaviour. Personal model comes first as individuals make the population.

4. Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, and age. Poverty, social exclusion, poor housing, poor health systems that affect a wide range of health, functioning and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. Health intelligence is shaped at a very young age owing to factors such as education, accessibility and affordability of healthcare services, nutrition, neighbourhood, housing. Substandard quality in these factors affect knowledge of health and healthy practices and lead to poor health and illnesses later in life.

5. Physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual and occupational dimensions should be considered in a model used for the health of a person.