Health might seem like a simple concept.
It's something that we engage with constantly but may have trouble quite defining.
When it comes down to it, our understanding of health of health is probably dominated by a western model which is quite particular in what it encompasses and how it is meant to work.
Sofie Ehrlich explains this brilliantly in an article from 2015.
She says that three things in particular have shaped the way medicine is practiced in the western world.
Firstly, the best way of understanding health is to break it down to its constituent parts. This is called reductionism.
Secondly, in order for something to have importance and be taken seriously it needs to have statistical significance, in other words, be important in a mathematical sense.
Thirdly, the mind and the body need to be considered separately in order to be understand properly.
The western model is traditionally very reliant on prescription drugs and surgery: if something doesn't work, medicate it or cut it out.
There are alternatives to this view of health.
Specifically, a number of different models of how we can look at health have been suggested that are informed by Māori rather than Pakeha culture.
In the next blog: Te whare tapa wha
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