As individuals, we think we know what it means to be healthy. If you eat salads and run, you must be healthy, right? Well it's not that simple. There are so many facets to health that it is actually hard to define. The World Health Organization (WHO) created a definition in 1948 that, for the time, was quite forward thinking. The WHO addressed a few aspects that can affect or influence health, noting that it was more than just the absence of disease. However, this definition has not been updated since then. This article uses a literature review to examine the definition of health and health inequality, reinventing the 1948 definition set out by the World Health Organization. A better, more accurate definition creates a foundation for addressing the ever changing face of health care (McCartney et al., 2019).
Additional factors that can affect and influence health are health inequity and inequalities. Though the words sound similar, their meanings are vastly different, and both impact how individuals and societies access health services. This article seeks to address the difference between health inequality and health inequity, while also identifying subcategories that affect and influence individual health (Ward, Johnson, & O'Brien, 2013).
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