For 75 years, the WHO health definition has been the most influential and widely accepted definition of health globally, having a profound impact on policy making, professional practice, and people’s overall understanding of health. Although there are alternative notions and definitions of health, it is argued that this definition has enjoyed an almost hegemonic position in the health discourse. Still, it has rarely been systematically deconstructed. This text aims to deconstruct the WHO 1948 definition of health in its entirety as well as its parts. This is done to highlight the epistemological variations and potential contradictions embedded within, and the possible consequences of the definition. The findings indicate a multitude of occasionally ambiguous or conflicting readings depending on how the reader and contemporary ideas conceptualize words and phrasing in the definition. For example, interpreting health as binary can be challenged by ideas of the present as constantly changing, suggesting that health in the definition is conceptualized along a continuum. Such alternative – and sometimes contradictory readings – call for clarifications on how the definition is used and interpreted in different contexts. Still, its ambiguity might have helped it remain relevant and applicable across different societies and time periods.
Wahlström et al. (2025) studied this question.