Health refers to the overall condition of a person's mind and body, including being free from illness, injury, or pain. The World Health Organization defines health more broadly as complete physical, mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease. Health is influenced by factors like access to healthcare, lifestyle, socioeconomic conditions, and environment. Community health examines the health characteristics of geographic areas using tools like GIS mapping to study factors that impact community well-being. Environmental health focuses on protecting human health by addressing physical, chemical, and biological factors in both the natural and built environment.

1. Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living organism. In humans, it is the general
condition of a person's mind and body, usually meaning to be free fromillness, injury or pain (as in "good health"
or "healthy").The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as "a state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Although
this definition has been subject to controversy, in particular as lacking operational value and because of the
problem created by use of the word "complete," it remains the most enduring. Other definitions have been
proposed, among which a recent definition that correlates health and personal satisfaction. Classification
systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications, including the International Classification of
Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), are commonly
used to define and measure the components of health.
Systematic activities to prevent or cure health problems and promote good health in humans are undertaken
by health care providers. Applications with regard to animal health are covered by the veterinary sciences. The
term "healthy" is also widely used in the context of many types of non-living organizations and their impacts
for the benefit of humans, such as in the sense of healthy communities, healthy cities or healthy environments.
In addition to health care interventions and a person's surroundings, a number of other factors are known to
influence the health status of individuals, including their background, lifestyle, and economic, social conditions,
and spirituality; these are referred to as "determinants of health." Studies have shown that high levels of
stress can affect your health.
A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values. Although embodied or face-to-face
communities are usually small, larger or more extended communities such as a national community, international
community and virtual community are also studied.
In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions
may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of community has less geographical limitation, as people can now
gather virtually in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location. Prior to the
internet, virtual communities (like social or academic organizations) were far more limited by the constraints
of available communication and transportation technologies.
The word "community" is derived from the Old French comunete which is derived from
the Latin communitas (from Latin communis, things held in common), a broad term for fellowship or organized
society. One broad definition which incorporates all the different forms of community is "as a group or
network of persons who are connected (objectively) to each other by relatively durable social relations that
extend beyond immediate genealogical ties, and who mutually define that relationship (subjectively) as
important to their social identity and social practice."[2]

2. Community health, a field of public health, is a discipline which concerns itself with the study and improvement
of the health characteristics of biological communities. While the term community can be broadly defined,
community health tends to focus on geographical areas rather than people with shared characteristics. The
health characteristics of a community are often examined using geographic information system (GIS) software
and public health datasets. Some projects, such as InfoShare or GEOPROJ combine GIS with existing
datasets, allowing the general public to examine the characteristics of any given community in participating
countries.
Because 'health III' (broadly defined as well-being) is influenced by a wide array of socio-
demographic characteristics, relevant variables range from the proportion of residents of a given age group to
the overall life expectancy of the neighbourhood/community. Medical interventions aimed at improving the
health of a community range from improving access to medical care to public health communications campaigns.
Recent research efforts have focused on how the built environment and socio-economic status affect health.
Community health may be studied within three broad categories:
Primary healthcare which refers to interventions that focus on the individual or family such as hand-
washing, immunization, circumcision
Secondary healthcare refers to those activities which focus on the environment such as draining puddles of
water near the house, clearing bushes and spraying insecticides to control vectors like mosquitoes.
Tertiary healthcare on the other hand refers to those interventions that take place in a hospital setting such
as intravenous rehydration or surgery.
success of community health programmes relies upon the transfer of information from healthprofessionals to
the general public using one-to-one or one to manycommunication(Masscommunication).The latest shift is
towards Health marketing
Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built
environment that may affect human health. Other terms referring to or concerning environmental health
are environmental public health, and public health protection / environmental health protection.
Environmental health should not be confused with environmental protection; environmental health is concerned
with protecting both the natural and built environments for the benefit of human health, whereas
environmental protection is concerned with protecting the natural environment mainly for the benefit of
ecosystems.
"Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all
the related factors impacting behaviours. It encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental
factors that can potentially affect health. It is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-
supportive environments. This definition excludes behaviour not related to environment, as well as behaviour
related to the social and cultural environment, as well as genetics."
Environmental health is defined by the World Health Organization as:

3. Those aspects of the human health and disease that are determined by factors in the environment. It also
refers to the theory and practice of assessing and controlling factors in the environment that can potentially
affect health.
Environmental health as used by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, includes both the direct pathological
effects of chemicals, radiation and some biological agents, and the effects (often indirect) on health and well
being of the broad physical, psychological, social and cultural environment, which includes housing, urban
development, land use and transport.
Environmental health services are defined by the World Health Organization as:
those services which implement environmental health policies through monitoring and control activities. They
also carry out that role by promoting the improvement of environmental parameters and by encouraging the
use of environmentally friendly and healthy technologies and behaviors. They also have a leading role in
developing and suggesting new policy areas.
Environmental medicine may be seen as the medical branch of the broader field of environmental health.
Terminology is not fully established, and in many European countries they are used interchangeably.