Question

Human Disease: Why is primary prevention the most important out of secondary and tertairy prevention? Explain in paragraph format.

Answer 1

In order to prevent and control outbreaks healthcare professionals had 3 levels of strategies and they are primary, secondary and tertiary.

Primary strategy: to prevent the disease or outbreak or health hazard before it actually happens. The best example here is immunization of against diseases like polio, diphtheria, influenza, tetanus etc.

Secondary strategy: this strategy is employed after the disease or injury has occurred. Here the main goal is to reduce the effect or spread of the disease by immediately recognizing symptoms and treating effectively. An example of this is regular cervical smears / PAP smears to screen and detect earliest forms of cervical cancer among women.

Tertiary strategy: the goal of this strategy is to lessen the blow of the injury or disease that has long lasting effects. An example for this rehabilitation programmes that are available for drug and alcohol abuse.

Primary prevention most importance:

When compared with secondary and tertiary preventions he primary prevention is considered as most important because by implementing this we can avoid the disease development at early stage in healthy individuals. It can be done through the preventing exposure methods to hazards which can capable to cause injury or disease. Primary prevention is aims to reduce the incidence of disease.

Ex: Vaccination (immunization) can protect against the effects of infectious diseases.

Education about healthy and safe habits (e.g. eating well, exercising regularly, not smoking)

Legislation and enforcement to ban or control the use of hazardous products (e.g. asbestos)