Freedom in a little box
Lie, A.K.
Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening Tidsskrift for Praktisk Medicin Ny Raekke 119(10): 1471-1473
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0029-2001 PMID: 10354758 Document Number: 509274
What are the implications for health of freedom as a community value? This article focuses on the fact that both health and freedom are complex concepts that elude a concise definition. Depending on how you define them, the answer to the question above will vary. Different conceptions of health and freedom are described initially, and then their interdependence is illustrated by means of examples. One issue examined is how the breakdown of the communist regime in the former Soviet Union influenced life expectancy, another the positive and negative aspects of the Cuban health system. Finally, the importance of a questioning attitude to the two concepts is underlined.