The aim of the presented article is to discuss some aspects of the cultural and social contexts of health and illness, to reveal the particularities that differentiate the understanding of health and illness kept by Russian people from other people. The special attention is paid to the particularity of the image of the world based on the Russian language. It was underlined that the Russian language provided the speaker with a wide range of opportunities to withdraw the responsibility for own actions. The analysis of health and illness particularities in the Russian language proposed by Kolesov, Fasmer is discussed in relation to the social representations and its formation. The analysis of the social context of health and illness refers to the socio-economic factors and the demographic facts, the neglect of health as one of the main feature of the social practice related to health and illness is discussed.