About Meikirch Model

Meikirch is a village near the capital of Switzerland. From this village the first publication of the definition of health was published. Only later it was called Meikirch Model. In historical times a monk came to preach in this church. At that time it was called "Monks church" and with time Meikirch. The word "-kirch" means church.
The Meikirch Model is a description of the nature of health. It suggests that with the present budget governments and health workers could do much more for the health of the people than they do today. It also empowers individuals to assume more responsibility for their health themselves.

In short the Meikirch Model can be understood as follows:
In order to be healthy each human being has to fulfill all demands of life such as adequate nutrition, assurance of personal safety, hygiene, social integration and possibly procreation. For this purpose each human being has received abilities at birth and must also develop further abilities as life progresses. These abilities have to serve also in our future. Therefore they are called potentials. If the biologically given and the personally acquired potentials together suffice to cover all the vital demands of life a person is healthy. If they are insufficient she or he is diseased. Consequently, each individual has the responsibility to take good care of his or her biologically given potential and to continuously acquire new personal potential.

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Testimonials

  • “Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology.
    University of Bern, Switzerland”
    Johannes Bircher, MD