Preventive healthcare
Preventive Healthcare
Preventive healthcare (also spelled as preventative healthcare), pronounced as /prɪˈvɛntɪv ˈhɛlθkɛər/, is a type of healthcare that focuses on the prevention of diseases and conditions rather than their treatment. The term is derived from the Latin word "praeventus", which means "to precede" or "to anticipate", and the Old French word "healthe", which means "wholeness, a being whole, sound or well".
Preventive healthcare involves measures taken for disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. It is considered as an investment in health, as the primary goal is to maintain the state of health and improve its parameters.
Types of Preventive Healthcare
Preventive healthcare strategies are typically described as taking place at the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention levels.
- Primary Prevention - aims to prevent diseases or injuries before they ever occur. This is done by preventing exposures to hazards that cause disease or injury, altering unhealthy or unsafe behaviours that can lead to disease or injury, and increasing resistance to disease or injury should exposure occur.
- Secondary Prevention - aims to reduce the impact of a disease or injury that has already occurred. This is done by detecting and treating disease or injury as soon as possible to halt or slow its progress, encouraging personal strategies to prevent re-injury or recurrence, and implementing programs to return people to their original health and function to prevent long-term problems.
- Tertiary Prevention - aims to soften the impact of an ongoing illness or injury that has lasting effects. This is done by helping people manage long-term, often-complex health problems and injuries (e.g. chronic diseases, permanent impairments) in order to improve as much as possible their ability to function, their quality of life and their life expectancy.
Importance of Preventive Healthcare
Preventive healthcare is important because it helps to reduce the burden of disease and associated risk factors. Preventive measures can be applied at all stages of life and along the continuum of care to prevent further deterioration of health.
Related Terms
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Preventive healthcare
- Wikipedia's article - Preventive healthcare
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