By Shu-Wen Chye for Fair Observer

Human beings generally like to live. Good health enables people to live long and fulfilling lives. The Internet has multiple definitions of health and good health. Yet the most commonly used definition continues to be the World Health Organization’s (WHO) version, which defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The United Nations (UN) has declared that ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all is one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

By many indices, human beings have never been healthier. Life expectancy has shot up, infant mortality has fallen, communicable diseases are under control, people are taller if not stronger than earlier generations and modern medicine has found cures for diseases that were debilitating until not too long ago. In the last 15 years alone, the number of people newly infected by HIV each year has fallen from 3.1 million to 2 million, and more than 6.2 million people have survived malaria.

However, the world is not the picture of good health yet. The UN points out that over 50% of South Asian children under five are stunted. In Sub-Saharan Africa the figure is 40%. The two main reasons for stunting are hunger caused by poverty and repeated illnesses caused by lack of clean water. Stunted children suffer lifelong health problems, including cognitive damage. Even today, hundreds of millions continue to fall short of what the WHO considers good health.