Main Health and healthy lifestyle
Health and healthy lifestyle

Health and healthy lifestyle

Child health is the state that is characterized by the balance with environment and the absence of any pathological changes. According to the definition adopted by the World Health Organization, health is not only a biological, but also a social category, that is, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. The Global Development Agenda until 2030 pays special attention to the Sustainable Development Goal No. 3 “Good health and well-being” for all people, without exception, and the possibility of full development of human capital, especially for children, as the basis of such wealth.

Apart from individual health, there is a public health that is distinguished as a statistical concept. The latter, in relation to children and adolescents, is determined by the following indicators: general incidence, incidence of infectious diseases; health index, proportion of frequently and long-term sick children; the prevalence and the structure of incidence rate, the proportion of children having physical development that corresponds with regulatory standards, and distribution of health groups.

Morbidity is one of the most important criteria characterizing the health of child population. In a broad sense, morbidity means data on prevalence, structure and dynamics of various diseases registered among the population as a whole or in individual population groups (territorial, age, gender, etc.).

Incidence (primary incidence) is the number of diseases that have not been registered any time before and that were first detected in a given calendar year.

Prevalence (morbidity) is the total number of all existing diseases, both identified in a given year and in the previous years, for which an individual repeatedly sought medical help in the current calendar year.

Data reflecting general morbidity (the rate of all diseases, acute and chronic) among the population of a certain region (city, country) in a specific period of time are obtained on the basis of analysis of individuals that have appealed for medical care (according to the medical records) or by processing the results of mass medical examinations held in child and adolescent institutions. General morbidity reveals a pronounced change with age and educational conditions. It is highest among children aged 2-3 years with gradual decrease and subsequent rise after admission to school and during puberty. The process of adaptation to a preschool institution, to learning at school and to conditions of their organization often has acute manifestation and is accompanied by a decrease in general health and immune response from the side of children. Also, adolescents experience decrease in general health and immune response during the period of rapid neuroendocrine restructuring of the body caused by puberty.

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