The state of health implies much more than freedom from disease, and good health may be de?ned as the attainment and maintenance of the highest state of mental and bodily vigour of which any given individual is capable. Environment, including living and working conditions, plays an important part in determining a person’s health. The UK government is now placing much greater emphasis on health promotion and the prevention of disease, and has published national targets for reducing the incidence of some major diseases. The 1978 World Health Organisation statement declares that primary care should ‘be made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community, by means acceptable to them, through their full participation, and at the cost that the community and country can a?ord to maintain in the spirit of self-reliance . . . [and] addresses the main health problems in the community, providing promotive, preventative, curative and rehabilitative services accordingly’. Factors affecting access to health include ?nance, ideology, and education. (See ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH.)... health
An inability to carry out purposeful movements despite normal muscle power and coordination. Apraxia is caused by damage to nerve tracts in the cerebrum (the main mass of the
brain) that translate the idea for a movement into an actual movement. Damage to the cerebrum may be caused by a head injury, infection, stroke, or brain tumour. There are various forms of apraxia, each related to damage in different parts of the brain. A person with ideomotor apraxia is unable to carry out a spoken command to make a particular movement, but at other times can make the same movement unconsciously. In sensory apraxia, a person may not be able to use an object due to loss of ability to recognize its purpose.... apraxia
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