Health meaning is associated with the idea of being whole, holy or at peace right the way through the history there have been strong connection between medicine, healthcare and religious belief. Health is a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. It is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities Health is viewed holistically as an interacting system with mental, emotional and physical mechanism. We define health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" We also consider health as a basic and dynamic force in our
daily lives, influenced by our circumstances, beliefs, culture and social, economic and physical environments.
There are many valid definition of health. All have 3 things in common; 1) Health is a positive concept. It is far more than just the absence of disease and disorder. 2) Health involves emotional and psychological well-being, not just an efficient and properly functioning body. This two factors are always interrelated and often inseparable. 3) Our health is partly determined by others. We in turn, influence the health of the individual we interact with.
This idea defines the scope of this unit. Health is a concept that involves the structure of action of societies. It cannot be properly studied or understood by considering individual in isolation.
The essential work of health and society is generally acknowledged to be “Health is for people” by Michael Wilson (1975). He practice medicine I Africa and in Birmingham. As well as a qualified doctor he was also an Anglican priest. Dr. Wilson writings give invaluable insights into the links between health and society- particular into how patters of disease and disorder alter changes with in social structure and material wealth.
The general principles of the Apache tribes Health Systems
It is important to know who are and what the Apache tribes to understand the principle of their health systems. When the Apache were first encountered by the Spanish, they were described as hunters and gatherers with a focus on bison hunting. In 1686, the Apache were termed "the owners of all the buffalo plains." People do not live by meat alone. Apache family life was close knit and families tended to live together. Since Apaches are matrilineal where descent is traced through one’s mother the local group was typically an extended family where the fathers had married daughters or granddaughters of a woman, with each married couple keeping their own residence. Mothers and daughters were quite close, and much of their work (collecting, cooking, caring for children, etc.) was done together, further binding them during their lifetimes. Grandparents were often teachers of the young, teaching those skills and disciplining them to respect the customs and behaviour of the group. Children of the same sex within the extended family were taught to cooperate, become close friends, and refrain from rivalry. Grandparents also taught the children that men married into the family protected their wife’s family, provided food for them, and obeyed them.
Several extended families lived in close proximity to each other and cooperated in obtaining food and defending each other. As the Apache were not sedentary throughout most of their history, families living near each other also tended to travel
The Apache tribe’s spiritual life was rich and included many ceremonies. Both men and women were active participants in that aspect of their lives and women often
served as shamans (medicine men). Girl’s puberty ceremonies practiced on the Mescalero Apache Reservation today reflect the participation of both sexes and all age groups in the ceremony. Older women instruct the girls and care for them between their dancing in a specially erected tipi. These dances are accompanied by the chants of adult males. In between their dances, males chant while other males of the Clown Societies perform dances in the plaza outside the tipi. Families prepare food and drink in a pavilion adjacent to the plaza, and other members of the tribe, as well as the public, watch from the sidelines. Because there is much gift-giving during the ceremony and because it takes place over several days, this, like other ceremonies continues to solidify the tribe as one people
The Apache believe in supernatural power “that pervaded the universe and could be utilized for human purposes by ritual procedures known to priests or learned in personal revelation by shamans.” Thus, many rituals revolved around curing sickness caused by sorcery or the anger of a higher being or because the ill person had committed a transgression.
Death carries a number of important burdens in Apache life. Certainly, there is mourning among the immediate family. Ghosts, however, can return to inflict damage on the living. In the past, the family and others in a camp would depart as soon as the individual was buried. Later, all the possessions and items that might remind the family of the person were removed from the dwelling. When the person is elderly, however, these concerns were relaxed among the Lipan and Mescalero. Given the emphasis on grandparents as instructors, as the elderly approach their death they are sought out for advice and blessings
Types of Model of Health
And Their Negative and Positive Aspects
Biomedical
The approach is dominant in Western societies and is a mechanistic definition of health According to Engel (1997) This health includes, ‘the notion of the body as machine, disease as the consequence of breakdown of the machine and the doctor‘s task as repair of the machine.’ Disease or genetic factors are seen as the cause of illness. If you consider your last visit to the doctor you will have been ask to describe your symptoms. If you had a sore throat then you would expect the doctor to examine it in order to diagnose the problem and give you a prescription that specially dealt with sore throats. In this way health is seen as an objective fact with identifiable biological causes- medicine concern are treating symptoms in a neutral rational scientific way. Here health is regarded as the absence of disease.
The British Medical Association has been strongly criticise for assuming that health and illness can be define abjectly. Medical profession vested interest in ensuring plenty of disease. ‘Thus, experiences once seen as a normal part of the
Human condition, such as childbirth, pregnancy, unhappiness, ageing and dying, has now been brought under medical scrutiny and control.’ Healthcare focus on treatment rather than prevention, that health is a ‘big business.’ e.g. once symptom defined as an illness-drug can be supplied and technology sold. People robbed of ability to cope with pain/illness and now need a drug to help them through period of perceive illness. Treatment could be damaging.
Holistic
Health and Illness are not seen as simply medical or scientific facts whereby the focus is on finding the fault of an illness within an individual. The emphasis is on preventative measure rather than curative measure. Recognise the social cause of illness, the role s that the environment/social structure plays in health and illness. Mckeown (1976) believe the social response as opposed to the medical response, is the reason for the decline in infection diseases. Holistic model of health consist of several factors such as better standard of living, less poverty, personal hygiene, nutrition better education smaller families, improve sanitation, cleaner water, smaller families, medical intervention. ‘The fact of health is a cultural fact in the broadest sense of the term, which to say at once political, economic and social, which is to say, it’s bound up with a certain state of the individual collective consciousness. Each period has its own notion of normality.’(Foucalt 1983 p.175)
Scientific
This model dominates the health professions. Illness is cause by bacteria, a faulty gene, a virus (or an accident. Illness can be identified and classified into different types, concentrate on the physical symptom as opposed to the psych/emotional. Illness can be treated and cure, treatment is best locates in medical environment; illness is a temporary affair e.g. germs driven off by medical expertise, Individual is the site of the illness rather than the environment. The medical view is that there is such a thing as a normal functioning body, which has a limited degree of variation. When operating within the normal boundaries of this variation, a person can be defined as healthy and when they are outside the boundaries, they are all ill or their organs are diseased. This positive approach recognize the concept of disease, but brings in a much wider social aspect into the definition, suggesting that health is not just a physical state, but also a wider sense of well being, closely link to our social surroundings.
What is ‘being healthy’ means from lay people perspective?
A male friend of mine define being healthy as being able to do what is expected for him at home and at work and feeling optimistic most of the time maintaining a sense of proportion and balance.
My next door neighbours Bill and Ann, both at their late sixties and retired said, ‘being healthy means being able to unwind and enjoy our hobbies with the company of friends and family.’
My colleague at work said, ‘being healthy is feeling self- confident, physically attractive and enjoying an adequate sexual relationship.’
I have asked my son, Alex who’s 13 years old, He said, ‘being healthy is being able to go to school and do my newspapers round afterward then go out playing ballgames with my friends.’
All these definition sounds functional which refer to health as the ability to perform normal daily regular activities. It is holistic with a positive approach acknowledging the concept of disease, but brings a great deal wider social element into the definition, suggesting that health is not only just a physical state but also a wider sense of well being, close linked to our social environment. Many people define health as the ability to function according to their own or to society’s expectation. Health is related to duty and performance in a particular role. This model can easily lead to denial of symptom and an acceptance of steadily deteriorating health. The functional approach to the sociology of health and illness derives from the work of Talcott and Parsons. In his determinations to demonstrate that functionalism provided a complete theory of society, wanted to show than even the apparently biological aspect of social life could be understood through the lens of sociology.
Reference
Haralambox, M. (2004) 6th ed . Sociology Themes and Perspective. March 20, 2004, Collins London
Seedhouse, D. ( 1986) Health: The Foundation for Achievement, Chichester
John Wiley 1986
Aggleton, P. (1990) Health London, Rutledge , 1990
