In 1946, it was revolutionary when the World Health Organization declared health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” No longer was health an independent ideology, coming from conventional thinking of health as “sick or not sick,” but instead, a novel view of health as a function of our environment.
This modern understanding still reigns today, and because of our various experiences — cultural, societal and professional — we wage war against injustice and inequality according to our personal ideals of what we envision “health” to be. Be it universal access to quality and effective health care services as the obvious understanding, to the more elusive such as safer roads, gainful employment or one’s freedom to speak his native tongue, we can all agree that health is most optimal when every individual has a right to determine their health. As you will see in the video below, health is “knowing that one can do (or achieve) anything!” These conventions are what we insist are the universal rights of man, and without these simple declarations, health truly cannot be achieved.
In December of 2014, 25 young, promising change-makers in a small Southern African nation, Malawi, shared their vision for social justice and health equity. It was a forum hosted by current GHC Malawi fellows, which aimed to stimulate young people to think about health from an unconventional — out of the box — perspective. These young men and women voiced their visions for a healthy Malawi. One individual stated, “health is art, creativity and culture coming to life and helping children become amazing, happy and fulfilled adults.” More insightful, another professed, “health is everyone getting a FIRST chance (at life), because some may get a second, third or fourth while others get NONE.”
This forum coincided with a social media campaign that provided a platform for young people to snap a picture with an accompanying quote of how they envisioned health. The health in photo campaign was entitled #health2me and was run on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for five days. One young Malawian, Nebert, posted a photo of a sanitary facility in a Malawian village with a quote, “#health2me is having proper sanitary facilities in rural schools.” Another stated, “#health2me is transcending bigotry, racism, discrimination, ignorance and hate, with simply, love.”
Often young people’s voices fall upon deaf ears and are left abandoned. The #health2me forum gave over a dozen young visionaries an opportunity to challenge the conventional doctrines of “health.” By examining how individual skills, passion and diversity — the uncommon attributes — contribute to the common goal of eliminating health inequities and social justice, only then can we start examining how to effectively create a healthier society.
So what uncommon role do you play in mankind’s common goal of achieving health for all?
See the video below of what health means to young people in Malawi.