Question

Explain what is the role of prevention in regard to wellness?

Answer 1

Prevention is always better than cure as it saves the individual's and nation's health, time, and money.

Primary prevention includes the preventive measures necessary to avoid the occurrence of disease while maintaining the healthy life. Eg: Vaccination against cholera is a primary prevention technique.

Secondary prevention includes the activities of early diagnosis and providing optimum treatment while preventing or limiting the secondary consequences of the disease.

Tertiary prevention is the last level of health promotion, which includes long-term medication to rehabilitate the body, efficient treatment approaches, and patient education. This is more applicable to diseases that cannot be reversed (Eg: diabetes and hypertension). The main focus of tertiary prevention is to limit the detrimental consequences of the disease while trying to maintain the normal health.

Regular physical exercise (primary prevention), regular health checkup (primary prevention), early diagnosis (secondary prevention), patient education (secondary prevention), prompt treatment with anti-hyperglycemic medications (tertiary prevention) would be useful in this patient’s management. Diabetes cannot be cured, the patients have to take medication throughout the life, but the dose of medication can be controlled by physical exercises and meditation. Diet must be very selective and should take foods rich in nutrients and less in calories. As it is an irreversible disease condition (and disease is already diagnosed), tertiary preventive measures are more appropriate for the patient.