Questions: Health, the ultimate treasure
Health: The Ultimate Treasure18 min readLesson 5 of 5
Q1. How does the WHO define health? Name the three aspects it includes.
Answer (English): The World Health Organization describes health as complete well-being on three fronts, physical, mental and social, and adds that absence of illness alone is not enough. Physical well-being means the body works well and can move, play and work without strain. Mental well-being means thoughts and emotions are in reasonable balance and stress can be handled. Social well-being means relationships with family, friends and the community are healthy.
Hinglish: WHO ke mutabiq health matlab physical, mental aur social well-being ka complete state, aur sirf disease ka na hona health nahi. Physical matlab body theek chale; mental matlab emotions aur stress sambhalna; social matlab family, doston aur community ke saath healthy rishte.
Q2. List four healthy habits and three habits that can harm health.
Answer (English): Four healthy habits are eating a balanced diet, staying physically active, getting enough sleep, and practising yoga or simple breathing exercises. Four habits that can harm health are spending too long on screens, eating fast food every day, sleeping very late or too little, and skipping meals such as breakfast. Tobacco, alcohol and addictive drugs are also harmful and should be avoided completely.
Hinglish: Healthy habits: balanced diet, regular exercise, poori neend, aur yoga/pranayama. Harmful habits: zyada screen time, roz fast food, der se sona ya kam sona, aur breakfast skip karna. Tobacco, alcohol aur drugs bilkul nahi lene chahiye.
Q3. How does a clean environment protect health? Give two examples.
Answer (English): A clean environment reduces the pathogens and irritants that make people sick. Clean air protects the lungs, because polluted air from vehicles and factories can cause coughing and asthma; the Air Quality Index tells us how clean the air is. Safe drinking water and clean toilets reduce water-borne and insect-borne diseases. Community sanitation campaigns, such as the one in Bhadrak district, raised child health and reduced diarrhoea and infections.
Hinglish: Saaf environment mein pathogens aur irritants kam hote hain. Saaf hawa se coughing aur asthma kam hote hain; AQI batata hai hawa kitni saaf hai. Safe paani aur saaf toilets se water-borne aur insect-borne diseases kam hoti hain. Bhadrak jaise sanitation campaigns se bachchon mein diarrhoea aur infections ghat gaye.
Q4. Differentiate between communicable and non-communicable diseases with two examples of each.
Answer (English): Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or worms, and they can pass between people, with typhoid and malaria as examples. Pathogens do not cause non-communicable diseases, and these cannot pass from person to person; lifestyle, diet and environment are linked to them. Diabetes and cancer are examples. Deficiency diseases such as anaemia are also non-communicable. Non-communicable diseases now cause most deaths in India.
Hinglish: Communicable diseases pathogens se hoti hain aur ek insaan se doosre tak phailti hain, jaise typhoid aur malaria. Non-communicable diseases pathogens se nahi hoti, phailti nahi, aur lifestyle/diet/environment se judi hain, jaise diabetes aur cancer. Anaemia jaisi deficiency diseases bhi non-communicable hain. India mein zyadatar maut inhi NCDs se hoti hai.
Q5. How do communicable diseases spread, and how can we prevent them?
Answer (English): Communicable diseases spread through droplets in the air, released when an infected person coughs or sneezes, through direct contact such as shaking hands, through shared personal items such as towels, through contaminated food and water, and through vectors such as mosquitoes and houseflies. Prevention follows the route: wash hands with soap, cover the mouth and nose, and wear a mask in crowded places. Do not share personal items, keep food and water clean, control mosquito breeding, and rest at home when unwell so that others are not infected.
Hinglish: Communicable diseases hawa se (cough/sneeze), direct contact, shared personal items, contaminated food-water, aur mosquitoes/flies (vectors) se failti hain. Bachav: saabun se handwashing, cough/sneeze par muh-naak dhakna, crowded jagah par mask, personal items share na karna, food-water saaf rakhna, mosquitoes na paalna, aur bimaari mein ghar par aaram karna.
Q6. Differentiate between a symptom and a sign with one example of each.
Answer (English): A symptom is something the person feels, whereas a sign can be seen or measured. Pain and tiredness are symptoms, because only the patient can report them. Fever and a rash are signs, because another person can see or measure them. Doctors use both to understand what might be making the patient unwell.
Hinglish: Symptom woh hota hai jo mareez feel karta hai, jaise pain ya tiredness. Sign woh hota hai jo dikh jaata hai ya naapa ja sakta hai, jaise fever ya rash. Doctor dono ko dekhkar samajhta hai ki kya gadbad ho sakti hai.
Q7. Why are non-communicable diseases becoming more common in India?
Answer (English): Non-communicable diseases are becoming more common because of changes in the way people live. Eating more processed food, getting less exercise, gaining excess weight and living longer lives all raise the risk. These diseases do not spread from person to person, but they last a long time and are now the leading cause of death in India. Habits such as tobacco use and air pollution add to the risk.
Hinglish: Non-communicable diseases India mein zyada ho rahi hain kyunki lifestyle badli hai: zyada processed food, kam exercise, badhata weight aur lambi umar. Ye diseases phailti nahi, par lambe samay tak chalti hain aur India mein sabse zyada maut inhi se hoti hai. Tobacco aur pollution bhi risk badhate hain.
Q8. Explain how vaccines work and what acquired immunity means.
Answer (English): A vaccine trains the immune system to recognise and attack a harmful germ, so the body is prepared before the real infection arrives. It may use weakened or killed pathogens, harmless pieces of a germ, or newer methods that make body cells produce a harmless piece of the germ. The protection that follows contact with a pathogen or a vaccine is called acquired immunity. Vaccines are preventive, not curative: they reduce the chance of serious illness but do not treat a person who is already sick.
Hinglish: Vaccine immune system ko train karta hai ki harmful germ ko pehchan kar attack kare, taaki asli infection se pehle body taiyaar ho. Isme weakened/dead pathogens, harmless parts, ya naye methods use hote hain. Pathogen ya vaccine ke exposure ke baad bani protection ko acquired immunity kehte hain. Vaccines preventive hain, curative nahi.
Q9. What did Edward Jenner discover, and how was smallpox eradicated?
Answer (English): Edward Jenner noticed that people who had had cowpox, a milder disease from cows, did not catch smallpox. In the late 1700s he tested the idea with material from cowpox sores and produced the first vaccine. Mass vaccination then spread around the world, and the number of countries reporting smallpox fell sharply after the 1965 campaign. By 1979 smallpox was declared eradicated. India also had a traditional method called variolation, performed by people known as teekedaars.
Hinglish: Edward Jenner ne dekha ki jinko cowpox ho chuka tha unhe smallpox nahi hota. Late 1700s mein unhone cowpox material se pehla vaccine banaya. Phir mass vaccination duniya bhar mein phaila, 1965 campaign ke baad cases tezi se ghat gaye, aur 1979 mein smallpox eradicated ho gaya. India mein pehle variolation ka traditional tarika bhi tha, jise teekedaars karte the.
Q10. What do antibiotics treat, and why is antibiotic resistance a problem?
Answer (English): Antibiotics destroy bacteria and act only on bacterial infections, since they attack cell parts found in bacteria but not in human or animal cells. They have no effect on viruses or on protozoal disease. Resistance develops when bacteria survive treatment, often because antibiotics were taken for the wrong illness or in incomplete doses, and those bacteria multiply. Resistant bacteria spread in hospitals, communities and through animals and food, making common infections harder to treat. Wise use means taking antibiotics only when prescribed, in the correct dose and for the full duration.
Hinglish: Antibiotics bacteria ko maarte hain, isliye sirf bacterial infections par kaam karte hain; virus ya protozoa par nahi. Jab bacteria treatment ke baad bach jaate hain (galat illness mein ya adhuri dose se), woh multiply karte hain aur antibiotic resistance ban jaati hai. Resistant bacteria hospital, community, animals aur food ke through phailte hain, jisse aam infections mushkil ho jaate hain. Antibiotics sirf doctor ki prescription se, sahi dose aur poore course tak lene chahiye.
The quick check below has five multiple choice questions on the meaning of health, lifestyle, disease types and vaccines. Each one comes with a short explanation, so take the quiz and see which topics need another read.