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2.1
What is health?
State of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and
infirmity
This means that one can maintain health by caring for ones own health and the health of others by making
positive health decisions. It also has to do with ensuring a healthy environment and society to live in which
will create the conditions which allow the attainment of health of all its members.
2.3
A number of factors may influence health at various times. Some of these earliest influences are:
Prenatal factors: affecting the developing foetus from the time of conception until birth
Includes:
Genetic conditions
Infections in pregnancy
Poor nutrition
Alcohol consumption
Drug abuse
Perinatal factors: around the time of birth
Includes:
Lack of oxygen to the baby during the birth process
Birth injuries
Rhesus incompatibility
Haemorrhage
Postnatal factors: after birth
Includes:
Damage to the central nervous system as a result of infections
Injury
Poisoning
Lack of oxygen or metabolic disturbances
Heredity:
Environment:
NB factors in the environment which contribute to disease, disability and death in SA:
Development: