Health Vocabulary for IELTS Writing Task 2: Medical and Wellness Terms for Band 7+

Reading time: 10 minutes

Health-related questions appear frequently in IELTS Writing Task 2. You'll encounter topics ranging from healthcare systems and obesity to mental health and government responsibility for public wellness. Most candidates write predictable essays with basic vocabulary: "health is important," "people should exercise," "eating junk food is bad."

This generic language caps your score at Band 6.

Examiners look for candidates who can discuss health topics with precision and range. Here's the vocabulary that demonstrates that capability.

Healthcare Systems

Basic Healthcare Terms

• Healthcare system — organized provision of medical services
• Public healthcare — government-provided medical services
• Private healthcare — medical services paid for individually
• Healthcare professionals — doctors, nurses, specialists
• Medical facilities — hospitals, clinics, health centres
• Primary care — first level of healthcare (GP visits)
• Specialist care — treatment from medical specialists

Healthcare Access

• Access to healthcare — ability to receive medical services
• Healthcare coverage — insurance or public health provision
• Universal healthcare — healthcare for all citizens
• Healthcare inequality — unfair differences in medical access
• Affordable healthcare — reasonably priced medical services

Healthcare Economics

• Healthcare budget/spending
• Medical costs/expenses
• Healthcare funding
• Cost-effective treatment
• Financial burden — monetary strain from medical costs

Prevention and Treatment

Prevention Vocabulary

• Preventive healthcare/medicine — preventing illness before it occurs
• Disease prevention
• Health screening — tests to detect problems early
• Vaccination/immunization
• Public health campaigns
• Health education
• Early intervention — treating problems at earliest stage

Treatment Vocabulary

• Medical treatment
• Diagnosis — identifying a disease or condition
• Prognosis — likely course of illness
• Medication/medicine
• Therapy — treatment for illness or disorder
• Rehabilitation — restoring health after illness
• Recovery — returning to health

Lifestyle and Wellness

Healthy Lifestyle

• Active lifestyle — regular physical activity
• Balanced diet — nutritious eating patterns
• Nutritious food — food providing essential nutrients
• Physical activity/exercise
• Regular exercise routine
• Adequate sleep
• Work-life balance

Unhealthy Lifestyle

• Sedentary lifestyle — lacking physical activity
• Unhealthy eating habits
• Processed food — industrially manufactured food
• Junk food/fast food
• Excessive consumption
• Lack of exercise
• Poor dietary choices

Health Outcomes

• Life expectancy — average lifespan
• Quality of life
• Physical wellbeing
• Mental wellbeing
• Overall health status

High-Value Collocations

Using these correctly signals Band 7+ competence. For more on collocations, see our guide to common collocation mistakes in IELTS Writing.

With "health"

• Maintain good health
• Improve health outcomes
• Pose a risk to health
• Health-conscious — aware of health implications
• Health implications — effects on health
• Public health concern
• Health crisis

With "disease/illness"

• Chronic disease — long-term condition (diabetes, heart disease)
• Infectious disease — can spread between people
• Lifestyle disease — caused by how we live
• Prevent disease
• Contract an illness
• Suffer from a condition

With "weight"

• Maintain a healthy weight
• Weight management
• Obesity epidemic
• Overweight population
• Body mass index (BMI)

Mental Health Vocabulary

Conditions and States

• Mental health/illness
• Psychological wellbeing
• Stress and anxiety
• Depression
• Mental disorders
• Emotional health

Causes and Effects

• Workplace stress
• Academic pressure
• Social isolation
• Burnout — exhaustion from prolonged stress
• Psychological impact

Solutions

• Mental health support
• Counselling services
• Therapy/treatment
• Stress management
• Work-life balance
• Reducing stigma — removing shame associated with mental illness

Sample Sentence Transformations

See how vocabulary transforms basic statements into Band 7+ writing. For more examples, explore our vocabulary building strategies.

Basic (Band 5-6):
"Eating bad food makes people unhealthy."

Advanced (Band 7+):
"Regular consumption of processed food and meals high in saturated fat contributes to chronic conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes."

Basic:
"The government should help people be healthy."

Advanced:
"Governments bear responsibility for public health and should invest in preventive healthcare initiatives, health education campaigns, and accessible medical facilities."

Basic:
"People don't exercise enough these days."

Advanced:
"Sedentary lifestyles have become increasingly prevalent in modern society, with many individuals failing to engage in adequate physical activity to maintain optimal health."

Topic-Specific Vocabulary Clusters

Obesity Essays:

• Rising obesity rates
• Childhood obesity
• Calorie intake
• Portion sizes
• Metabolic disorders
• Weight-related conditions
• Dietary habits
• Sugar consumption
• Nutritional education

Healthcare Responsibility Essays:

• Government intervention
• Individual responsibility
• Public health policies
• Health promotion
• Personal accountability
• State-funded healthcare
• Private insurance
• Health incentives
• Sin taxes (on unhealthy products)

Mental Health Essays:

• Mental health awareness
• Psychological services
• Counselling provision
• Workplace wellbeing
• Student mental health
• Support networks
• Coping strategies
• Destigmatization

Prevention vs Treatment Essays:

• Preventive measures
• Early detection
• Screening programs
• Treatment costs
• Long-term care
• Preventive investment
• Healthcare burden
• Cost-benefit analysis

Academic Language for Health Essays

• Exacerbate — make worse ("Stress exacerbates health problems")
• Mitigate — reduce ("Exercise mitigates the risk of heart disease")
• Contribute to — be a factor in ("Poor diet contributes to obesity")
• Associated with — connected to ("Sedentary behaviour is associated with chronic illness")
• Prevalent — widespread ("Diabetes is increasingly prevalent")
• Susceptible to — vulnerable to ("Children are susceptible to dietary influence")

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Avoiding these errors improves your vocabulary score. See our guide on formal vs informal language for more.

Imprecise language:

• "Bad health" → "Poor health" or "Ill health"
• "Get sick" → "Contract an illness" or "Develop a condition"
• "Cure the disease" → "Treat the condition" (many conditions are managed, not cured)

Wrong collocations:

• "Do health" → "Maintain health"
• "Health becomes good" → "Health improves"
• "Strong health" → "Good/robust health"

Informal vocabulary:

• "Fat people" → "Individuals suffering from obesity"
• "Crazy" → "Those with mental health conditions"
• "Get fit" → "Improve physical fitness" or "Achieve optimal health"

Practice Paragraph

Rewrite this Band 5 paragraph using vocabulary from this post:

"Many people are fat today because they eat too much junk food and don't exercise. This makes them sick with diseases. The government should do something about this problem. They should tell people to eat better food and exercise more."

Suggested improvement:
"Obesity rates have risen dramatically due to widespread consumption of processed food and increasingly sedentary lifestyles. These factors contribute to various chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Governments should address this public health crisis through comprehensive strategies, including health education campaigns promoting balanced diets and regular physical activity, alongside policies that improve access to nutritious food and recreational facilities."

Building Health Vocabulary

Health topics frequently appear in news coverage about healthcare policy, disease outbreaks, and wellness trends. Reading health sections of quality newspapers exposes you to the precise terminology used in formal discussions.

Pay attention to how health professionals and policy makers discuss these issues—this formal register is what examiners expect in Task 2 essays on health topics.

For comprehensive vocabulary development, explore our complete IELTS vocabulary guide and learn about avoiding repetition in essays.

Unsure if your health vocabulary meets Band 7+ standards? Our AI provides specific feedback on vocabulary range and suggests improvements tailored to your level.