Health Concepts — Individual and Population Health; Major Social Concepts of Health

Submitted by Aman Singh and guided by Yrysbaev E.Y., this comprehensive academic paper examines health from two major perspectives — individual and population — alongside the key social frameworks that underpin modern health thinking.It opens by tracing the evolution of health definitions, centering on the WHO’s 1948 definition and its critiques. Individual health is broken into physical, mental, social, and spiritual dimensions, with a critique of the clinical model’s narrow focus. Population health is then defined (Kindig & Stoddart, 2003), covering its determinants, measurement tools (DALYs, QALYs), and its interdependence with individual health via the IHI Triple Aim framework.The core of the paper covers five major social concepts: the Biomedical Model, the Biopsychosocial Model (Engel, 1977), Social Determinants of Health (WHO/CDC framework), Health Equity & Disparities (Marmot Review, 2010), Health as a Human Right, and the Social-Ecological Model. It concludes that 21st-century health systems must integrate clinical excellence with population health and social justice. 10 references cited.