What is hygiene?
The term hygiene refers to all the regulations and procedures regarding the cleanliness and care of people and places with the purpose of ensuring and maintaining a healthy and safe environment, both for individuals and society as a whole. In order to prevent and limit the spread of diseases, it is essential to find out what factors can increase or decrease the risk of contagion.
What is health?
The concept of health refers to a variety of conditions:
- physical condition: it refers to the physical well-being of the body itself;
- mental condition: referring to the ability of articulating coherent thought;
- emotional condition: it refers to the ability of managing emotions;
- ethical condition: referring to the individual’s idea of life;
- social condition: it refers to the individual’s environment.
What is prevention?
Lots of progress has been made in prevention, even though some diseases are still researched because partially unknown1. There are three steps in prevention:
Primary prevention, which focuses on:
- protecting and enforcing individuals' health through vaccinations, maintenance of healthy environmental conditions, a healthy diet, mental health;
- avoiding the spread of diseases by reducing their causes or keeping individuals away from them.
Secondary prevention (when it is not possible to prevent a disease from spreading), performed through screenings, exams, and controls.
Tertiary prevention, aimed at:
- minimising complications;
- reducing disabilities;
- minimising pain;
- helping the patient to adapt to new habits (such as wearing a prosthesis).
WARM UP
Can you mention at least three things you do every day to protect your health from external rlsks?
MORE
1 Alzheimer's, Aids, Avian Flu, Covid 19 and many other diseases are currently treatable but a lot remains unknown about their causes and how to cure them completely.
DO
1 Social distancing was one of the recommended ways to prevent the spread of Covid 19 in 2020. Can you explain its meaning?