Prevention is Better Than Cure

Medical adage, "Prevention is Better Than Cure", is one of the health principle we should practice in our daily life. Health Prevention refers to any activity we do that prevent the health from harm. The fact is Prevention is cheaper than Treatment cannot be disputed.

Prevention Mode of Action can be classified into 3 stages:

1. Primary Prevention

2. Secondary Prevention

3. Tertiary Prevention

Primary Prevention:

In primary prevention stage, the main activities are to prevent disease or injury from occuring. Primary Prevention can be done at individual and community level. The focus of activity in primary prevention stage can be directed at host in order to increase his resistance to the agent, for instance by giving immunisations, stop smoking et cetera. Primary prevention activity also can be directed on the environment such as reduce the condition favorable to the vector of the agent such as in biological hazards (example:Fogging to destroy aedes mosquito inorder to prevent Dengue disease). The acitivities in primary prevention do not depend on the doctors alone. Health Protection and Health Promotion are the two tools widely used in primary prevention.

In Health Protection, the main aim is to eliminate the agent and also any predisposing factors that can cause the disease. Hierarchy of Control is included in this Health Protection tool. Health Promotion is another tool that not only give the health education to the individu but also empower them to take care and responsible of their own health.

Secondary Prevention:

In Secondary Prevention the main aims is to detect the disease early and manage it as early as possible to prevent its complication. Detection of disease can be made through health screening, health and medical surveillance. In our current contact of handling influenza A H1N1 infection both home quarantine and mitigation phase are belong to this stage of prevention.

Tertiary Prevention:

Tertiary Prevention are activities which promote rehabilitation, restoration and maintenance of maximum function after the disease and its complications have stabilised. The activities are directed at host and also environment.