THE WHO DEFINITION OF HEALTH: A CRITICAL READING

The purpose of this article is to clarify the meaning of health, starting from the analysis of the definition of health stated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948, highlighting its strengths and its critical aspects. The considerations on the opportunity to revise the definition of health, adapting it to the changed conditions of the world population, gave rise to a proposal for a new definition focused on the ability to adapt and self-manage in face of social, physical, and emotional challenges. Even though we recognize that adaptation and self-management are important qualities, we have to question the extrinsic conditions to which health is subordinate. Thus, if we evaluate this definition as suitable, we must clarify how health is necessarily linked to socio-economic and environmental policies, paying attention to the procedure to be followed in order to pass from what ought to be to what is.