Health care - an everlasting challenge in temporal and spatial domains

Health care is an everlasting challenge that requires effort at all levels, from national and organizational to individual domains, over a long-term period. This article reviews the historical development of health care-related issues worldwide and accentuates the necessity of health care in the current era. Through investigating the historical background in both the occidental and the oriental worlds and the latest achievements from academic and industrial endeavors, many lessons can be learnt, and as a result, an integrative strategy is proposed to meet today's pressing needs. A government-funded project, "Challenge to 100 years of age", which involved more than 600 residents in west Aizu village, lasted over 15 years. After reviewing its outcomes, a metrology of health based upon the three-dimensional phase space, which integrates with social well-being, mental status, and physical condition for a lifelong span, is advocated as a measure of the holistic view of health state.