Importance of Preventive Medicine-Hardik Makhija

We’ve all heard the phrase “Prevention is better than cure”. This in a way sums up the

basic principle of preventive medicine.

That’s what preventive medicine is all about. Most areas of medicine narrowly focus on

a single age group, ailment, or body part. But preventive medicine do not have these

boundaries, making it a very broad field.



What is Preventive Medicine?

Preventive medicine is exactly what it sounds like-it aims to prevent sickness before it

happens. The ideology behind preventive medicine focuses on protecting, promoting,

and maintaining health as well as well-being. It also aims to avert disease, disability,

and death on an individual basis, as well as on a large scale in communities and

populations. The aim of preventive medicine is the absence of disease, either by

preventing the occurrence of a disease or by halting a disease and averting resulting

complications after its onset. Preventive medicine can be practiced by governmental

agencies, primary care physicians and the individuals himself.

In the past, many diseases have been conquered by doing things for an individual. The

present challenge of preventive medicine is to motivate the individual to practice his

own prevention. Possible means of achieving this motivation are described and many

require the active participation of the primary care physician. A physician called

preventive medicine physician, is a doctor who has experience in public health as well

as clinical care. This allows them to provide insight and expertise in the prevention of

injury, disease and death.

Why is preventive medicine important?

Chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart diseases, account for seven out of ten

deaths. This is why screening and detection have become so critical. Healthy habits

are just as crucial, including eating well, exercising, and avoiding tobacco consumption.

These help individuals stay healthy, avoid diseases or minimize the effects of diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the five leading causes of

death in the US as heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke,

and unintentional injuries. This makes preventive medicine all the more important in

avoiding premature death.

Practicing preventive medicine can also lower costs, as 75 percent of annual health

spending goes toward chronic and largely preventable diseases in the US, according to

the CDC. Preventive medicine also fights the productivity drain associated with chronic

illness.

The advantages of preventive medicine for the individual are obvious. We all not only

want to grow old, we also want to age as healthy and happy as possible. But have you

thought that preventive medicine also plays a crucial role in our society?

This is developing rapidly in terms of demographics. The proportion of the aging

population is steadily increasing. Since this demographic trend shows a higher risk for

certain diseases often referred to as so-called widespread diseases. This demographic

change also increases the costs and challenges for society as a whole, in particular for

the health system.

Preventive medicine also includes Immunization. Routine immunization programs

protect most of the world's children from a number of infectious diseases that previously

caused millions of deaths each year. Vaccination is a highly effective method of

preventing certain infectious diseases. Vaccines are generally safe and seriously

adverse reactions are uncommon.

Types of Prevention

There are three levels of prevention:

1. Improving the overall health of the population (primary prevention).

2. Improving (secondary prevention).

3. Improving treatment and recovery (tertiary prevention).

A recent self-assessment of public health services in 41 of the 53 countries in the WHO

European Region found that:

Primary prevention: Routine immunization programs are established in some countries, and in most cases are well developed and effective. However, arrangements for delivery of vaccine programs are under-developed in some countries,especially for minority populations. Some Commonwealth of Independent States have seen an increase in vaccine preventable diseases following the breakdown of services available in the Soviet era.

Secondary prevention: Routine screening for major forms of cancer now exists in many countries, but not in all of them. Screening programs are not always evidence-

based and systemic health checks for noncommunicable diseases are not routine in most countries.

Tertiary prevention: Lack of availability and affordability of treatment for early stage

cancer is a limiting factor in some countries. Staff need training in evidence-based

treatment and management approaches for noncommunicable diseases, and modern

equipment.