title: [Freedom in a little box].
abstract: What are the implications for health of freedom as a community value? This article focuses on the fact that both health and freedom are complex concepts that elude a concise definition. Depending on how you define them, the answer to the question above will vary. Different conceptions of health and freedom are described initially, and then their interdependence is illustrated by means of examples. One issue examined is how the breakdown of the communist regime in the former Soviet Union influenced life expectancy, another the positive and negative aspects of the Cuban health system. Finally, the importance of a questioning attitude to the two concepts is underlined.
authors.affiliation: Kirurgisk avdeling, Sentralsykehuset i Hedmark, avdeling Elverum.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lie
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003462:Cuba; D005610:Freedom; D006262:Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D009664:Norway; D011056:Political Systems; D012426:Russia