Health Citizenship In The 18th Century

According to the WHO (1948)health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition is a widely acceptable one for the reason that it takes well-being into concrete consideration and more so because it doesn’t restrict health as a mere concept of only illness. The present article focuses on the health citizenship in the eighteenth century as the right of man within democratic states. Through the centuries health efforts were tilted to benefit the elite class more than the sick poor. In the medieval period the panic, civil disorder and social breakdown caused by anti-plague resulted into civil administrative structures which became the model for European public health which is followed even today. Health was identified as a pursuit of happiness in the nineteenth century by enlightenment thinkers and new investigative prophylaxes were facilitated (Porter, 1999).

Every culture has developed a system of medicine and that medical history is one of the aspects of …show more content…
It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.”
Oxford English dictionary defines mental health as “a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being all this pressure seems to be affecting his mental health.” According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, mental health is "emotional, behavioral, and social maturity or normality; the absence of a mental or behavioral disorder; a state of psychological well-being in which one has achieved a satisfactory integration of one's instinctual drives acceptable to both oneself and one's social milieu; an appropriate balance of love, work, and leisure