What is Health?
World Health Organisation (WHO) defines the term ‘health’ as a state of ‘complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. This article will focus on physical health and how medicine and our attitudes towards health have developed from the past and future prospects for the health field.

Evolution of our understanding of health
Throughout history, our shifting values and medical discoveries have meant that our understanding of health has also been ever-changing.

During ancient times, health was highly intertwined with religion and gaining favour with the deities. Religious healers believed that prayers and sacrifices to appease the gods were necessary to achieve and maintain good health. This was especially relevant in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, where it was widely believed that ill health was due to the wrath of demons and offended deities.

The first significant break from the supernatural concepts surrounding health came from Hippocrates during the 5th century BCE. He is often hailed as the ‘Father of Modern Medicine’. Hippocrates was the first to separate the religious beliefs from medicine and establish the relationship between cleanliness and the origin of a disease.

The scientific progress of medicine continued into the Roman Empire in the first century BCE where prominent physician Galen expanded on Hippocrates’ findings by giving a more holistic definition to health to include mental and emotional states.

Eventually came the discovery of cells (1665 BC), microorganisms (1676 BC) and genes (1866 BC) as well as chemical and molecular entities that help maintain the body in equilibrium, further refining our understanding of health and medicine. Our understanding of ‘health’ developed alongside breakthroughs and improvements to health care delivery methods, ultimately evolving into the current definition provided WHO.

Ancient Eastern Medicines
Chinese medicine origins can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122BC), where it was believed that illness was caused either by upsetting an ancestor or being cursed by an evil force. As a result, shamans would write on and heat ‘oracle bones’ (usually scapular bones or tortoise shells) through a technique called ‘scapulimancy’ to treat illness and diseases.

However, the 3rd century BC marks the origins of traditional Chinese medicine, a 23-century-old system that aimed to prevent or heal disease through maintaining and restoring an individual’s ying-yang balance. To fix this balance, a Chinese healer would use various remedies, including acupuncture, where thin needles are placed on specific points of a patient’s meridians or cupping, which draws blood to the patient’s skin hot glass cups. Meanwhile, herbal medicines would consist of brews prepared with one or a combination of medicinal plants or dried animal parts, including snakes, scorpions, insects, or even deer antlers. Although these methods have gradually developed over the centuries, traditional Chinese medicine’s underlying concepts and practices are still found in standard medical therapy in China today.

Ancient European Medicines
Medicine in Medieval Europe took many forms. Medieval European physicians based medical care mainly upon Galen’s teachings, which believed that illness was caused when the ‘Four Humours’ (phlegm, black bile, yellow bile, and blood) were unbalanced.

Because dissection of human bodies was forbidden during the medieval era, doctors couldn’t gain a proper understanding of the human body and the causes of diseases. There were also no public health services or education services, so scientific theories had little chance to develop. As a result, medical practitioners’ quality was poor and ill health was often explained by supernatural or religious factors.

Although some herb remedies were successful, the Middle Ages also spawned a range of cures that would be considered ridiculous and unthinkable today. These included:
∙ Bleeding by applying leeches to the skin
∙ Smelling strong posies to cause vomiting
∙ Trepanning (i.e., cutting a hole in the skull)
∙ Whipping the patient to earn God’s forgiveness
∙ Lighting fires in rooms and spreading the smoke
∙ Adding mercury or animal dung in elixir and ointment concoctions

American Medicines
The indigenous people of America have long incorporated medicinal plants into their traditional medicines to heal the body and purify the spirit. Gathering herbs from their surroundings they would make tonics, antiseptics, and ailments to help with immune, detox, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. Many traditional practices were passed down orally from generation to generation and weren’t document in writing and varied greatly from tribe to tribe. However, common medicinal herbs found in a Healer’s medicine bundle included Ginseng, Wild Black Cherry, Pennyroyal, Dogwood, Feverwort and Willow Bark which treated everything from colds to aches and pains to constipation.

One of the most sacred herbs used to heal numerous conditions was tobacco, which was smoked pure and used in rituals and ceremonies. Sage was another important herb and was said to heal problems in the stomach, colon kidneys, liver, lungs, and skin.

Modern Western Medicine
Throughout history, there have been several moments that marked a major turning point in both medicine and propelled human civilisation past major historical milestones. The latest notable advancements in medical science are:
Development of vaccine (1798): The concept of building immunity by exposing your body to a milder version of a disease has been well-known for a long time. However, it was only until 1796 when Edward Jenner decided to investigate this idea further by using inoculations to tame the smallpox virus. Since then, the popularity of vaccines grew immensely, and variations have been developed to combat smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, and cholera. Vaccines have now wiped off smallpox from the face of the earth and continue to save millions of lives each year.

Development of anaesthetic (1842): The first use of general anaesthetic was documented in the mid-19th century where, before that, surgery was seen as a last resort due to the excruciating pain. Although there were countless earlier experiments with anaesthesia dating as far back as 4000BC, William T.G. Morton was the first to use it in surgery successfully. Chloroform became widely used, but 150 years since, safer anaesthetics have been developed and become commonplace in operations and hospitals.

Development of germ theory (1860): Before the ‘germ theory’, it was widely believed that disease was caused by ‘spontaneous generation’ and could appear out of thin air instead of being airborne or transmitted via skin contact. However, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur proved in 1861 that infectious disease was actually due to the invasion of pathogens into living hosts. This led to numerous advancements that helped prevent devastating epidemics such as the plague, dysentery, and typhoid fever.

Discovery of genetic inheritance (1866): Although the idea that people inherit traits from parents have been known since prehistory, Gregor Mendel was the first to discover dominant and recessive traits through a series of pea plant experiments. These factors were genes, and this discovery helped unlock the other leading cause of disease, genetic inheritance.

Discovery of penicillin (1928): The world’s first antibiotic by Alexander Fleming revolutionised the war against deadly bacteria. However, penicillin wasn’t properly recognised until World War 2, where it began to be mass-produced. However, over the years, certain bacterium strains have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, leading to the urgent need to develop new anti-bacterial treatments.

Development of organ transplant (1954): The first successful kidney transplant with the recipient surviving was carried out by Dr Joseph Murray and Dr David Hume. This was due to overcoming major issues of vascular anastomosis, placement of kidney, and immune response. Transplants for lungs, kidneys, livers, and heart quickly followed. Transplant procedures have since become increasingly innovative and complex, with the first-hand transplant in 1998 and full-face transplant in 2010.

Stem cell therapy (1970): The incredible potential of stem cells was discovered in the last 50 years; unspecialised cells can not only renew themselves through cell division, but they can also make any human cell. This has great potential to treat leukaemia, blood disorders, as well as bone marrow transplantation. Ongoing research is being carried out so stem cells can be used to treat spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and strokes.

What does the future hold?
We have already made considerable strides in the healthcare field with artificial intelligence over the past decade. Life science companies and research institutions are teaming up with technology giants such as Google, IBM, and Apple to invent faster and smarter ways to diagnose and treat diseases. These innovative technologies range from tools that can detect neurodegenerative diseases and tumours invisible to the naked eye, to computing systems to produce cancer treatment plans tailored to each patient.