Progressive domestic medical workers of the second half of the 19th century. provided thousands of proofs of the adverse health effects of working and living conditions. The paramount importance of social conditions in the formation of the health of the population has been the subject of study of social hygiene since the beginning of the 20th century.

Determination of the relationship between social and biological principles in a person allows us to identify their impact on human health. Just as, in essence, a person himself cannot be torn apart from the biological from the social, so the biological and social components of health cannot be torn apart.

The health and illness of an individual is fundamentally biological. But general biological qualities are not fundamental, they are mediated by the social conditions of his life, which are decisive.