1. Definition of epidemiology

1.3 Definition of health

Health can be defined in various ways according to the conceptual appoach :

  • Absence of disease = biomedical concept

    • "Health is living with a quiet inner body."

    Pr R. Leriche, 1936, Encyclopédie Française

  • State of full well-being = medical-social concept

    • "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

    (Preamble to the Constitution of WHO, 22 July, 1946, New York)