Human Health

Every creature on earth require two primary things viz air and water without which life hardly sustains. Next comes food which goes to supply the necessary energy to development, nourishment, maintenance, fighting against the attacking enemies for successful onward living. Human beings belonging to this category are equally dependent on the above requirements which have to be complemented with another factor i.e. Health. Excepting the biological feeling of the inability of free movement coupled by expression of pain or keeping absolutely motionless, there is no health consciousness of non humans of all genus and species. The health feeling of human beings owe not only to physical condition but also relate to mental, social and even spiritual condition. With the advancement of civilization the health concept has been getting more and more complex due to the impact from the mental, social and spiritual conditions.

             The discussion will be confined to the first three items viz air, water and food which are the principal items for survival and thus if these are not available in right quantity, quality, it is obvious that there will dawn degradation of health and as a matter of fact such things have been going on in many areas of the world. To understand the problem in the entirety item wise discussion is required--

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Human Health

continued.....
Air--4500 million years ago Earth happened to be created followed by creation of atmosphere, oceans, seas,volcanoes, mountains, hills, solid surface both rough and even and uneven gradually over a very very long period ; one day came when the first blossom of life extricated as if from nowhere in the form of plant which spread out in every nook and corner of the earth in water and land..Foliage, flowers, fruits of innumerable plants some of which grew into sky kissing heights exhibiting vibgyor colors and vast area pervading aroma dressed the earth to make it ready to receive the next developed life. Life added more life which saw a new world , the animal world. The process of transition was extremely slow and thousands of years rolled by in between which came devastations , upheavals, disappearance of previous creations of plants and animals and substitutions of newer ones and these processes one day gave birth to the homo sapiens in short the present humans. Along with the  series of changes in the earth the atmosphere also underwent changes and the plants and the animals adjusted with such changes so that they could survive. Homo sapiens  people appeared  in the early times (about 200000 years ago) in an environment conducive to them.and the atmosphere presented them hundred percent free air .  With gradual uplift of these people after learning how to make fire for different purposes logs were started to be consumed and in course of time many areas became arid mainly due to deforestation without corresponding replacement by afforestation. Middle east areas bear testimony to the fact of these areas being turned into desert or arid zones. Yet it can be said that except this human  intervention in the natural ecological balance in the environment, the atmospheric conditions remained more or less unchanged till the advent of the industrial revolution when the life style of humans started to change rather reorient in the way which was totally unknown in the 18th century. In the twentieth century the term pollution first raised its dirty head which is now going to deny the access of pure air ..to be continued

continued--As is well known that the industrialization has brought many new and novel nature occurring products like coal, petroleum, gases etc which lay hidden underneath the earth for thousands of years and the consumption of which have started producing gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and others adding to the gas composition of the atmosphere. The new gas composition in the atmosphere is further mixed with the different exhaust gases from the industries and as a result the atmospheric temperature has been rising ( the process of heating is not the subject matter here) much to the detriment of atmospheric quality to the health of the creatures who are rather helpless in the matter. While human efforts are there at the national and international level to combat the green house effect(the heating of the atmosphere )being out of the scope of this essay, the fact remains that the humans have been subject to the toxicity of the human created gases, which if the human system fails to adjust may bring in disaster to the human race.

Water--The second mandatory requirement for survival of the humans is clean, pure,sweet and potable water which the humans have been using from rains, springs, rivers,lakes, pools, wells etc for thousands of years. There was not much problem t o get access to the drinking water but with increase in population, growth of satellite townships due to industrialization water scarcity has started surfacing and over and above the huge consumption of water in big industries has complicated the situation in a number of ways. The effluent of the small and big industries contain many chemical compounds which are injurious not only to human health but even also  to the crops which the humans consume. In big town, cities and mega cities municipal bodies have to make elaborate arrangement for storage of water from different sources,and do take all necessary steps to make it potable. In many countries the supply is not adequate and the quality is far from criticism . Surprisingly even the tubewells in some areas yield high percentage of iron, arsenic    (to be continued )

continued---which have been continuing to damage health in multiple hazards after prolonged consumption . Regard being had to various such minerals, chemicals, bacteria, viruses in the drinking water in many places in the world, a new commerce of manufacturing potable mineral water has sprung up almost everywhere and lo, even this packages are not safe in many areas and how one could be sure when in strange areas. Whatever preventive and remedial measures may be sought for, there may not be guarantee that the water will not harm and that health will be duly protected.

Food--It is the third most important item which goes to provide the necessary power and energy for survival--growth, maintenance , immunity etc to protect from diseases for making a healthy body .In the old days when the humans used to live a migrant life their food supply came from the jungles in the form of roots,tubers, eatable leaves, fruits of the trees, meat from different animals and also fish and other livestock of water in the rivers, lakes etc Problems used to arise when scarcity of such food due to exhaustion of the stock occurred and the group or the team had to move out elsewhere for searching of new stock of food in the like areas. Human intelligence one day discovered that food could be created by themselves and thus was born agriculture which changed their way of life from nomadic to settled life. This changeover is not a legend of one two years but hundreds of years passed before the humans settled to place themselves here and there with the distinct hope that they would get food and not run into uncertainty any more. Perhaps in the early period there were not problems in areas producing sufficient food and sharing by all the persons in the group but the peaceful ........
                                                                                                                           
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Human Health

continued--coexistence with all the members of the clan took orientation when the concept of private property gradually took shape and ultimately in course of time the members acquired proprietary right in the agricultural fields under the possession of the clan and which eventually led to fight among the different clans leading  to feudal system in the years to come. Food production of each land holder varied and that there remained not that previous camaraderie where every member could get whatever food he needed. However this can not be said that the clans were so much narrow and unsympathetic as to deprive the needy members from food and let them die. The circumstances slowly turned into critical stage with the advancement of civilization when the Kings and the kingdoms came to rule over the people who were under their mandate to pay crops (as taxes ?)to them and also to the landlords for residing in their areas. The concept of equal distribution of food became folklore and everybody in the populace became not so lucky to get necessary quantity of food and instances are not rare when during flood, draught, other natural calamities, wars, riots etc thousands of people had to die due to lack of food. Famine raided humans again and again in century after century in different countries from time to time. While passing through the centuries of multitude of changes in land system,  administration set up, agricultural processes humans reached twentieth century which by the blessing of science opened new horizons to grow more food, storage, supply and distribution to every nook and corner of the world to ensure that everyone gets his share of food. The endeavor has been on and almost every day the science and technologies are adding new scheme, new machinery, manures, watering system, insecticide, pesticide, improved seeds etc to enhance production to meet the growing population of the earth during the next century. It is now twenty first century and can it be said that notwithstanding all these research work putting so much effort have been able to produce food for all ? Truth remains that the target is yet to be reached and the reasons can not be covered in this essay. It can not be denied that food is still lacking in many areas of the world in consequence of which Health is not ensured.  (to be continued  )

Human Health Part II

Economic Health--The sub head may present a bit confounding to many and  clarification needs be added for clear understanding of the matter. Economics is the financial condition of the person, which enables to buy a comfortable living house or shelter, to save from the high and low temperature, rains, snow,storm etc , cozy beds with  proper linen, net ( to repel mosquito or other insects etc where needed in some areas ), essential clothing according to seasonal requirements with protective outer fittings like cap/hats , umbrellas and raincoats etc. For house cleaning purposes modern gadgets like vacuum cleaner, scrubber, floor cleaner etc are also needed to ensure a healthy living. In short maintenance of sanitary and hygienic conditions in house and apartment entails considerable expenditure. Notwithstanding all the preventive measures taken in the house sickness can never be ruled out completely and then medical attention and treatment will be absolutely essential. To call a physician or a surgeon at home has been more and more expensive and the private nursing homes are no exception to this . Health insurance for meeting cost for treating diseases and meeting accidental injuries ( even deaths )  are the best cover up in modern times. Well being of health is not only  dependent on the house environment but also on maintenance of personal hygiene,. Nothing new is to be added in the matter as the lesson begins from very childhood at homes, and then in schools. Nevertheless bad habits and dirty living is not uncommon and specially people belonging to the slum areas bear testimony to such bad practices. Financial incapability is not the last question to explain the habits and it is more related to the social health which will be discussed later. The problem was really very acute till eighteenth centuries when thousands of people used to die from communicable diseases in almost every part of the globe. Mortality from the menace of such diseases has come down even in the underdeveloped/developing countries after improved therapy and preventive measures through the endeavours of hundreds of scientists during the last two hundred years. Sickness is there and will be there and the individual and the state require sizable finance to ensure that lesser number of mandays are lost due to sickness. Unhealthy poeple are not asset to the nation and in fact they are liability and so their number has got to be minimized by means and ways to be devised by the administration of the respective country.  (to be continued...)