Today public health and health care are focusing on the “broad definition of health”. No longer is it the simple absence of disease, it is holistic health of body, mind and soul. When we think of community health, it is the health of the physical surroundings, the social climate, the human and fiscal resources, and the religious support system among many others.

As early as 1947, the World Health organization was changing the mind set of the world to understand that clean water, clean air, and proper living quarters were just as important as immunizations against disease. The healthy communities movement has adopted this broad definition.

Students will have examples of how this has been applied later in the module.