Year: 2010
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The health of populations is an important, but neglected, aspect of the resilience of societies.Not only does population health affect the ability of societies to withstand adversity, it can shape how they respond to it -whether in ways that make things better or worse.The orthodox view of health is that it is continuing to improve in line with historic trends, but this is debatable.Common measures of health and well-being, notably life expectancy, self-reported health and happiness, do not give a full and accurate picture; among young people, in particular, it is arguable that health and well-being are in decline (even as life expectancy rises).This has important implications for future population health -and so resilience.To address this situation we must reconceptualise health and healthcare, re-orient education and set stricter standards for the corporate sector, especially in media and marketing.To enhance Australia's resilience, we need to make 'better health' (in the broadest sense), not 'greater wealth', the nation's defining goal.
Author: Richard Eckersley
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2201154322