We know that social health is one of the three major components of health, the other two being physical and mental. Social health can be defined in two ways. In one sense, it refers to the health of a person with reference to her/his ability to interact with others. It also refers to the health of a society in general. It focuses on how the members of a society treat each other and behave with each other. What kind of social environment prevails and how the prevailing customs and traditions guide the behaviour of individuals towards self, each other and towards the society as a whole also form social health. Social Health also includes how individual’s natural environment around them is. The role of the community as a whole acquires great importance for enhancing and maintaining the quality of the health of individuals. Although there are many dimensions of social health, we shall discuss below the impact of social customs on our health, the need to protect natural resources and the empowerment of community for healthy living.
