We explain what prevention is and some examples of this term. In addition, its different meanings in areas such as health.
What is prevention?
Prevention refers to preventing, or anticipating an event and preventing it from occurring. Its origin is the Latin term praeventĭo, which comes from "prae": previous, previous, and "eventious": event or event.
Generally speaking of preventing a negative or undesirable event, we can give some examples of the context in which the term is used: "Traffic accidents can be prevented by raising awareness population on the responsible handling of vehicles”, “To prevent the street from flooding, the drains must be free of leaves and garbage ", or" The campaigns for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases seem to be giving good results”.
This term can be used in various topics and in each of them it acquires a more specific meaning, some are:
Other meanings of prevention
It is one of the contexts in which the term is used the most, and refers to the action of preventing diseases. It is carried out mainly through campaigns of Health fostered by governments or by non-governmental associations and is part of the scope of the Public health, which is a discipline dedicated to protecting the health of the population.
Such prevention campaigns can be directed towards a particular audience, such as sex education campaigns for teenagers, or towards the general population, for example through campaigns to promote good habits of hygiene.
In turn, we speak of primary prevention in the case of preventing before the onset of a disease through the campaigns mentioned above. When speaking of secondary prevention, reference is made to screening programs or screening, by means of which certain medical or laboratory studies are carried out in a population in order to detect a disease. These studies are usually carried out with objectives mainly epidemiological, to know the prevalence and incidence of a disease.
Then, those of the tertiary type are carried out once health has been restored after an illness, to avoid its recurrence; and those of the quaternary type aim to avoid unnecessary interventions in the population or excesses in treatment times.
Generally aimed at avoiding or minimizing the consequences of natural phenomena What earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, among others. Governments also tend to play an essential role in this area and are usually carried out through disaster prevention and prediction systems.
With respect to pollution, basically it is about preventing the industries improve the treatment of their waste, to make the population aware of how to properly handle their own waste or avoid excess disposable material, such as plastic bags.
It is valid to highlight the subtle difference between prevention and promotion, since these terms are often closely related and their objectives overlap. In the case of health, promotion more than anything focuses on promoting or encouraging certain behaviors or uses; as in the case of promoting the use of condoms as the best method to prevent sexually transmitted infections, or compliance with vaccination schedules in children. Unlike prevention that aims more for the population to know how to avoid behaviors risk to prevent disease.