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PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

Prevention


It includes all steps, including definitive therapy, that stops the
progression of a disease at any stage of its course.

Levels of prevention
1. Primordial prevention

2. Primary prevention

3. Secondary prevention

4. Tertiary prevention
Health promotion
Specific protection
Early diagnosis and
treatment
Disability
limitation
Rehabilitation
Primordial prevention

A new concept

Prevention of development of risk factors

E.g. discouraging children from adopting harmful lifestyle (to
minimize the chance of having HTN, obesity) like sedentary life
style, junk foods, smoking

Very effective in prevention of chronic disease


Primary prevention

Action taken prior to the onset of disease, which removes the
possibility of occurrence of disease

Health promotion
Specific intervention



Primary prevention: health promotion

The process of increasing and improving health

Certain measures for health promotion
Improving food quality and good nutrition for everybody
Good housing facilities: sanitation, safe drinking water
Personal hygiene
Health education
Periodic health screening



Primary prevention: specific intervention

Immunization: BCG, OPV

Specific nutrition: iron for anemia.

Protection against occupational hazards
Lead jacket in x-ray department, mask & boots for firearm worker.



Secondary prevention

Action which halt the progress of a disease at its incipient stage and
prevents complication

Early diagnosis & treatment

It is largely the domain of clinical medicine

Early diagnosis & T/t

WHO defined early diagnosis as, the detection of disturbances of
homeostatic and compensatory mechanism, while bio-chemical,
morphological and functional changes still reversible

The earlier a disease is diagnosed and treated, better will be prognosis,
and prevention of transmission of disease e.g. STD, TB

Methods of early diagnosis
Screening
Case finding
Surveillance
Periodic examination
Selective examination of high risk group

Tertiary prevention

All measure available to reduce or limit impairments and disabilities,
minimize suffering caused by existing departures from good health and
to promote the patients adjustment to irremediable conditions

Disability limitation
Rehabilitation
Tertiary prevention: disability limitation
When a patient reports late in the pathogenesis phase, the mode of intervention is
disability limitation.
It prevents from being handicapped

Impairment
Any abnormality in physiology, anatomy or mentally.
e.g. accident resulting in loss of lower limb, loss of eyes, severe head injury

Disability
Inability to perform normal activity, as a result of impairment
e.g. due to accident, a man loss his limb and now he is unable to walk

Handicap
Loss or earning as a result of disability, and the person has to depends on other.
e.g. accident unable to walk no work/no income.

Tertiary prevention: rehabilitation
The combined and coordinated use of medical, social, educational
and vocational measures for training or re-training the
individual to the highest possible level of functioning ability.

Types
Medical: restoration of function. like physiotherapy, providing crutches.
Vocational: restoration of earning capacity. Like:-teaching, painting,
sewing.
Social: restoration of family and social relation.
Psychological: restoration of personal dignity & confidence.

E.g. of rehabilitation
School for blind
Provision of aids for crippled like crutches
Reconstructive surgery for leprosy

WHY PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE?

Preventive measures are taken prior to the onset of diseases. It removes all the possibility of
occurrence of disease or disability. Whereas, curative measures are taken after the individual
suffer from disease.

Prevention includes early diagnosis and treatment. So, it reduces secondary complication,
further disability and mortality.

Prevention requires less resources. e.g. diphtheria, pertusis, tetanus can be prevented by
DPT vaccine, but if there is outbreak of diphtheria occur, large resources are required to
control.

Prevention of disease, prevents from loss of manpower. E.g. polio, if not prevented, victim
cant walk.

Curative measures produces side effects, which is usually absent in preventive measures.

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