(Akiit.com) Health is as much a social and political concern as a private and personal one. If our society is not geared towards a healthy attitude and respect for the wellbeing of the people, it is unlikely that the individuals within that society will be able to look after themselves properly or retain their health as well as they should. As it happens, there are a few key health challenges facing our modern societies today, and the sooner we get through them the sooner individuals around the world will be able to feel and be healthier. Let’s take a look at some of those biggest challenges so that we can know what we should be working on.
The Opioid Crisis
Something which is always going to be a concern in any society is when there is an epidemic of a certain drug spreading through the nations. The perfect example of this at the moment can be seen in the American opioid crisis. There are now record numbers of people using and addicted to opioids, and often it begins innocently enough with ordinary over-the-counter painkillers. For the individuals involved, recovery is a potentially long process of overcoming their 
addiction with the use of support centres and rehab clinic. And as a society, we need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to help people along the process of drug rehab – so that they can carry on with their lives.
Cancer
It has long been that cancer is one of our main health concerns to be dealt with in society, but it is today more prevalent than ever – even with the huge amount of advancements and achievements there have been in this field. The fact is, cancer is still one of the top three killers, and much of it is completely preventable through better lifestyle choices and other factors of that nature. Again, the solution is twofold: both to encourage people to take control of their own health, and to structure our society in such a way that this is easier and more willing to be done. With any luck, we can yet turn around the tides on this disease at some point in the future.
Obesity
In many Western cultures in particular, obesity is an ever-growing problem, and one which is all too preventable with the right approach. Obesity itself leads to a huge range of other diseases and illnesses, and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke by many times over. However, by teaching our children how to eat healthily and about the virtues of exercise, we can hope to produce a generation of people who will hopefully put an end to this health problem for good. If so, it will mean wonderful things for our societies and our world on the whole, and we can expect to see a great improvement in overall health figures as a result.
These three are especially important concerns for us to look at as a society – and before long we might hopefully have improved them greatly.
Staff Writer; Jerry Barker