ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCE RICE 1
Concepts and Principles
The determinants of health are considered a range of personal, social, economic and
environmental factors that influence an individual’s health status. Understanding the
determinants of health is about looking at how and where people live, work and play and how
this affects their health and behaviors.
Health-field concepts’ purpose is to identify two main health-related objectives; prevention
of health problems and promotion of good health. These concepts can also be called the health
care system. Human biology, environment, lifestyle and health care organization are the four
broad elements that make up the health field.
The three levels of prevention are primary, secondary, and tertiary. Each of these stages can
help determine the status of an individual’s health. The primary level is like a forewarning of an
illness, injury, or disease. Secondary level leads to early diagnosis and prompt treatment while
the tertiary level consists of what we consider recovery or rehabilitation.
Risk factors are any attribute, characteristics or exposure of an individual that increases the
likelihood of developing a disease or injury. Risk factors can be divided into two categories:
modifiable and non-modifiable. In other words, one can be changed or controlled and the other
cannot.
Health risk reduction involves understanding infectious (communicable) and
noninfectious (non-communicable) diseases. With a clear understanding of the disease and how
they spread, prevention techniques will be more effective.
ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCE RICE 2
The chain of infection is made up of six different links. Those links are pathogen,
reservoir, portal of exit, means of transmission, portal of entry, and the new host. Each link has a
unique role in the chain and each can be interrupted, or “broken”, through various means.
The communicable disease model, also known as the epidemiologic triangle, shows the
connection or relationship between an agent, host, and the environment. It explains how an
illness due to specific infectious (biological) agent or its toxic products capable of being directly
or indirectly transmitted from man to man, animal to man, animal to animal, or from the
environment to man.
The non-communicable disease model and multi-causation disease model are one in the
same. They explain the onset of disease caused by more than one factor. In other words, they are
