Abstract

THIELMANN, Klaus; ILLNAIT FERRER, José  and  CLARK ARXER, Ismael. Individual and social health determinants. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2013, vol.39, n.2, pp. 314-322. ISSN 0864-3466.

The rise of the high morbidity of non-communicable chronic diseases compels us to reconsider the basic concept of medicine. The unilateral healing approach prevailing in many nations and the implementation of the ethical and scientific progress in the medical practice, in addition to the commercialization of medicine, put and extra burden on the financial system. This situation exacerbates the unequal access to medical services and makes the medicine face its own ethical principle of practice that takes into account the patient rather than the person's status; which is a democratic principle and a human right as well. It is required to implement adequate concepts and models to put the technical advances for healing and the social commitment of medicine in harmony. In virtue of the unique characteristic and the rich experiences of the Cuban health system, there are ideal conditions to carry on these practical concepts and models aimed at systematically reducing the risk of getting sick from non-communicable chronic diseases. The basic features of a primary concept, which seeks to integrate the healing medicine within a comprehensive strategy of proactive and customized health promotion, were presented. The communication between the physicians and their patients centered on the individual and social health determinants is the basis for implementing this concept. The experiences accumulated through an implementation model, which is being developed in Dr. Thomas Roig polyclinics in Old Havana municipality, were shown in this paper.

Keywords : medical services; health determinants; conceptual discussion.

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