Chapter 13

1 We have all heard of the earthquakes inLatur, Bhuj, Kashmir etc. or the cyclonesthat lashed the coastal regions. Thinkof as many different ways as possible inwhich people s health would be affectedby such a disaster if it took place in ourneighbourhood. How many of these ways we can think ofare events that would occur when thedisaster is actually happening? How many of these health-related eventswould happen long after the actualdisaster, but would still be because of thedisaster? Why would one effect on health fall intothe first group, and why would anotherfall into the second group?When we do this exercise, we realise thathealth and disease in human communitiesare very complex issues, with manyinterconnected causes. We also realise thatthe ideas of what health and disease meanare themselves very complicated.

2 When weask what causes diseases and how we preventthem, we have to begin by asking what thesenotions have seen that cells are the basic unitsof organisms. Cells are made of a variety ofchemical substances proteins, carbo-hydrates,fats or lipids, and so on. Cell is a dynamic or the other is always happeninginside them. Complex reactions and repair goeson inside cells. New cells are being made. Inour organs or tissues, there are variousspecialised activities going on the heart isbeating, the lungs are breathing, the kidneyis filtering urine, the brain is these activities are interconnected. Forexample, if the kidneys are not filtering urine,poisonous substances will accumulate. Undersuch conditions, the brain will not be able tothink properly. For all these interconnectedactivities, energy and raw material are is a necessity for cell and tissue that prevents proper functioning ofcells and tissues will lead to a lack of properactivity of the is in this context that we will look at thenotions of health and and its SIGNIFICANCE OF HEALTH We have heard the word health used quitefrequently.

3 We use it ourselves as well, whenwe say things like my grandmother s healthis not good . Our teachers use it when theyscold us saying this is not a healthy attitude .What does the word health mean?If we think about it, we realise that italways implies the idea of being well . We canthink of this well-being as effectivefunctioning. For our grandmothers, being ableto go out to the market or to visit neighboursis being well , and not being able to do suchthings is poor health . Being interested infollowing the teaching in the classroom so thatwe can understand the world is a healthyattitude ; while not being interested isconsidered the opposite. Health is therefore astate of being well enough to function wellphysically, mentally and AND COMMUNITY ISSUESBOTH MATTER FOR HEALTHIf health means a state of physical, mental andsocial well-being, it cannot be something that13 WWWWWHYHYHYHYHY D D D D DOOOOO W W W W WEEEEE F F F F FALLALLALLALLALL I I I I ILLLLLLLLLL?

4 ????Chapter2022-23healthy. Social equality and harmony aretherefore necessary for individual health. Wecan think of many other such examples ofconnections between community issues andindividual one of us can achieve entirely on our health of all organisms will depend ontheir surroundings or their environment. Theenvironment includes the physicalenvironment. So, for example, health is at riskin a cyclone in many beings live in societies. Our socialenvironment, therefore, is an important factorin our individual health. We live in villages,towns or cities. In such places, even ourphysical environment is decided by our what would happen if no agencyis ensuring that garbage is collected anddisposed. What would happen if no one takesresponsibility for clearing the drains andensuring that water does not collect in thestreets or open spaces?

5 So, if there is a great deal of garbagethrown in our streets, or if there is open drain-water lying stagnant around where we live,the possibility of poor health , public cleanliness is important forindividual Find out what provisions are made byyour local authority (panchayat/municipal corporation) for the supplyof clean drinking water. Are all the people in your locality ableto access this? Find out how your local authoritymanages the solid waste generated inyour neighbourhood. Are these measures adequate? If not, what improvements would yousuggest? What could your family do to reducethe amount of solid waste generatedduring a day/week?We need food to be healthy, and this foodwill have to be earned by doing work. For this,the opportunity to do work has to be need to be happy in order to be trulyhealthy, and if we mistreat each other and areafraid of each other, we cannot be happy orWHY DO WE FALL ILL?

6 BETWEEN HEALTHY AND disease -FREE If this is what we mean by health , what do wemean by disease ? The word is actually self-explanatory we can think of it as disease disturbed ease. disease , in other words,literally means being uncomfortable. However,the word is used in a more limited talk of disease when we can find a specificand particular cause for discomfort. This doesnot mean that we have to know the absolutefinal cause; we can say that someone issuffering from diarrhoea without knowingexactly what has caused the loose can now easily see that it is possible tobe in poor health without actually sufferingfrom a particular disease . Simply not beingdiseased is not the same as being healthy. Good health for a dancer may mean beingable to stretch his body into difficult butgraceful positions.

7 On the other hand, goodhealth for a musician may mean having enoughbreathing capacity in his/her lungs to controlthe notes from his/her flute. To have theopportunity to realise the unique potential inall of us is also necessary for real Five F s What is to be done?Protect the water source (H)Treat and store watersafely (S)Wash hands before preparing andtaking food (H)Wash hands after defecation (S)Cover the food (H)Control flies (S)Clean vegetables and fruits beforeuse (H)Avoid open defecation (S)Proper drainage system (H)Treatment of water (S)Prevention of Transmission of Diseases by MaintainingSanitation and HygieneHygieneSanitationHealthy personFaecal matter2022-23 SCIENCE178So, we can be in poor health without therebeing a simple cause in the form of anidentifiable disease .

8 This is the reason why,when we think about health, we think aboutsocieties and communities. On the otherhand, when we think about disease , we thinkabout individual any two conditions essentialfor good any two conditions essentialfor being free of the answers to the abovequestions necessarily the same ordifferent? Why? and Its DOES disease LOOK LIKE?Let us now think a little more aboutdiseases. In the first place, how do we knowthat there is a disease ? In other words, howdo we know that there is something wrongwith the body? There are many tissues inthe body, as we have seen in Chapter tissues make up physiologicalsystems or organ systems that carry outbody functions. Each of the organ systemshas specific organs as its parts, and it hasparticular functions. So, the digestivesystem has the stomach and intestines, andit helps to digest food taken in from outsidethe body.

9 The musculoskeletal system,which is made up of bones and muscles,holds the body parts together and helps thebody there is a disease , either thefunctioning of one or more systems of the bodywill change for the worse. These changes giverise to symptoms and signs of of disease are the things we feel asbeing wrong . So we have a headache, we havecough, we have loose motions, we have awound with pus; these are all indicate that there may be a disease , butthey don t indicate what the disease is. Forexample, a headache may mean justexamination stress or, very rarely, it maymean meningitis, or any one of a dozendifferent of disease are what physicians willlook for on the basis of the symptoms. Signswill give a little more definite indication of thepresence of a particular disease . Physicians willalso get laboratory tests done to pinpoint thedisease AND CHRONIC DISEASESThe manifestations of disease will be differentdepending on a number of factors.

10 Somediseases last for only very short periods of time,and these are called acute diseases. We all knowfrom experience that the common cold lastsonly a few days. Other ailments can last for along time, even as much as a lifetime, and arecalled chronic diseases. An example is theinfection causing elephantiasis, which is verycommon in some parts of Survey your neighbourhood to find out:(1)how many people suffered fromacute diseases during the lastthree months,(2)how many people developedchronic diseases during this sameperiod,(3)and finally, the total number ofpeople suffering from chronicdiseases in your neighbourhood. Are the answers to questions (1) and(2) different? Are the answers to questions (2) and(3) different? What do you think could be thereason for these differences? What doyou think would be the effect of thesedifferences on the general health ofthe population?