These preventive stages are primary prevention, primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention. Combined, these strategies not only aim to prevent the onset of the disease through risk reduction, but also the subsequent complications of a manifest disease. It can even be tertiary prevention if the patient has already had a heart attack and the goal is to prevent a recurrence. For the purpose of the introduction, it is convenient to think of preventive actions in four main stages, but in reality the stages blur one in the next.
While secondary prevention seeks to prevent the onset of the disease, tertiary prevention aims to reduce the effects of the disease once established in an individual. For example, checking and then controlling blood pressure can be a primary prevention if the condition being prevented is a heart attack. Health protection encompasses primary and primary prevention, and includes “food hygiene, water purification, environmental sanitation, drug safety and other activities that emphasize actions that can be taken to eliminate as much as possible the risk of consequences adverse health conditions attributable to environmental hazards, unsafe or impure food, water, medicines, etc. Physicians should keep up to date with prevention guidelines and ensure that all patients receive appropriate services with a full explanation of risks and benefits.
STRYVE Strategy Selector This CDC tool is designed for any professional or community seeking information on how to prevent youth violence. However, blood pressure control can be considered secondary prevention if the person has a family history of hypertension and you are being screened. Secondary prevention activities could focus (metaphorically) above and include attempts to identify suicidal people before they try, perhaps by screening for depression in primary care offices. Resources on preventing child abuse, protecting children from the risk of abuse, and strengthening families.
Applied to bodies in the river, primary prevention could include improving the job training of young people, attracting small industries to the city, or programs to improve the built environment. Given the overlapping risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect and other forms of violence, it stands to reason that primary prevention of child abuse and neglect can prevent other forms of violence and abuse. For example, a Pap smear (Papanicolaou) is a form of secondary prevention aimed at diagnosing cervical cancer in its subclinical state prior to progression. Adopting a public health approach to prevention strategies can strengthen community systems that reduce child abuse.
It's a resource for professionals and communities about what works, what's promising, and what doesn't work in juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and the protection and safety of children.
