MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ülikool

TERVIS JA TÖÖVÕIME HEALTH AND CAPACITY FOR WORK
HEALTH AND CAPACITY FOR WORK
Jaana Rahno
Introduction
What exactly is health? According to the definition stated in 1948 by the World Health
Organisation (WHO), health is “a status of complete physical, mental and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. In other words, human health status is a rather
subjective matter. Health is not the purpose of life, but means for daily living (Rahvastiku …
2008). Only the people themselves can best know and assess their health. Meanwhile, people
with similar health status may provide quite dissimilar assessments of their health.
Health is our most important asset and a crucial factor for the survival of the nation. Personal
capacity to act depends on health status, and people with better health are more productive.
Healthier labour force is also more flexible and capable of better adaptation to changing
conditions, reducing labour turnover. Poor health, however, may affect the quality of life and work
and it reduces the number of people capable of work as well as the number of working hours and
productivity of employed persons (Rahvastiku … 2008).
During the recent years, the state has paid increasingly more attention to improving people’s
health behaviour, such as launching anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol campaigns. Great emphasis
has also been placed on the necessity of healthy diet and recreational sports. Relevant legislation
has been adopted to avoid accidents or prevent accident-induced injuries (mandatory use of
smoke detectors, mandatory use of safety equipment in cars, mandatory use of helmet when
driving two-wheel vehicles, etc.). Thus, the state has already contributed quite a lot to the
protection of human health. All this has been done to improve the health of our people. Healthier
nation means lower costs on health care. However, everyone can take care of their health and
well-being only by their own actions and conduct.
Health is affected by human health behaviour, i.e. their choices, social environment and socioeconomic
factors, but important role is also attributed to genetic and biological, including gender
prerequisites (Lai 2010). On the one hand, differences between the health of men and women
are affected by gender-specific biological differences and, on the other hand, dissimilar health
behaviour on behalf of men and women. This article is written in view of gender-induced
differences in health and health behaviour.
WHO states the following about the impact of gender on health: the society prescribes different
roles for men and women in dissimilar social environments. Men and women have different
means and opportunities and they make different decisions on health-related issues, e.g. seeking
help in case of illness. Gender roles also determine social and economic behaviour, which also
affect health hazards of males and females (Gender … 2011).
This article begins with a demographic overview of the age-specific changes in the proportions of
men and women in population and the reasons thereof. The overview is followed by a
comparison of mortality and the causes of death of men and women. This section also touches
upon life expectancy and the disability free life expectancy.
The article continues by focusing mostly on differences in the health status of men and women.
First, a more in-depth overview is given about the health assessments of men and women by
age, marital status, education, place of residence, ethnic nationality and income. Consideration is
also given to the proportion of population suffering from some long-term illness and thus having
restricted daily activities due to a health problem, as well as people with official disability.
The article continues by observing the health behaviour of men and women from the aspect of
use and availability of medical care, and differences in using medicinal products. When
examining health behaviour one should definitely compare smoking habits and alcohol
consumption by men and women, both of which have significant impact on health. Another factor
50
MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? MAN’S HOME IS THE WORLD, WOMAN’S WORLD IS HER HOME?