Primary prevention research and programming in the past has aimed to prevent illness by more effectively encouraging people to avoid behaviors (such as smoking, abusing drugs, engaging in unsafe sexual practices, and overeating) linked to health risk. Prevention research and education now also emphasize avoiding or reducing environmental exposures (such as sun, water pollution, radon, ozone, pesticides, and hazardous chemicals) that increase health risk.
The New Environmental Health, a consumer health education fact sheet published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in May 2003, offers an overview of environmental health hazards along with information about avoiding lifestyles and behaviors that jeopardize health. Its suggestions to help maintain personal environmental health include the following:
- Read labels on household chemicals and wear gloves and protective clothing while using them.
- Keep household chemicals, drugs, and vitamins out of the reach of children.
- Know the hazards of one's occupation.
- Distinguish allergies from other conditions, such as colds.
- Avoid drinking water that may not be pure (either from lakes and streams or in less-developed countries).
- Be aware of the dangers of lead and ozone.
- Learn about radon exposure.
TABLE 2.6
Twenty-one critical objectives identified by the Adolescent Health Work Group
| • Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents with disabilities who are reported to be sad, unhappy, or depressed. | |
| • Reduce pregnancies among adolescent females. | |
| • (Developmental) Reduce the number of cases of HIV infection among adolescents and adults. | |
| • Reduce deaths caused by motor vehicle crashes. | |
| • Increase use of safety belts. | |
| • Reduce homicides. | |
| • Reduce physical fighting among adolescents. | |
| • Reduce weapon carrying by adolescents on school property. | |
| • Reduce deaths of adolescents and young adults. | |
| • Reduce the suicide rate. | |
| • Reduce the rate of suicide attempts by adolescents. | |
| • (Developmental) Increase the proportion of children with mental health problems who receive treatment. | |
| • Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese. | |
| • Increase the proportion of adolescents who engage in vigorous physical activity that promotes cardiorespiratory fitness 3 or more days per week for 20 or more minutes per occasion. | |
| • Reduce the proportion of adolescents and young adults with Chlamydia trachomatisinfections. | |
| • Increase the proportion of adolescents who abstain from sexual intercourse or use condoms if currently sexually active. | |
| • Reduce deaths and injuries caused by alcohol- and drug-related motor vehicle crashes. | |
| • Reduce the proportion of adolescents who report that they rode, during the previous 30 days, with a driver who had been drinking alcohol. | |
| • Reduce past-month use of illicit substances. | |
| • Reduce the proportion of persons engaging in binge drinking of alcoholic beverages. | |
| • Reduce tobacco use by adolescents. | |
| SOURCE: "21 Critical Objectives Identified by the Adolescent Health Work Group," in Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health,2nd edition, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, November 2000 [Online] http://www.healthypeople.gov/search/stat_21crobj.htm [accessed March 15, 2004] | |
- Do not "top" your gas tank or spill gasoline or other evaporating fluids that can produce ozone and smog.
- Grow plants.
- When jogging, do so away from traffic in the mornings or evenings (not midday) to avoid heat and auto pollution.
- Take safety measures such as wearing seatbelts, helmets, and protective pads and putting children in safety seats.
- Limit exposure to loud noise.
- Prevent overexposure to heat.
- Wash hands.
- Prevent the drift of pesticides from nonfood to food crops.
- Eat a healthy, low-calorie diet.
- Take a multivitamin.
- Minimize the incidence of accidents by planning for potential hazards in advance.
- Be sexually responsible.
- Do not smoke tobacco.
- If you drink, do so in moderation.
- Block the sun's rays with covers such as hats and sunglasses and wear sunscreen.
Healthy People 2010
Building on the earlier reports Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (1979) and Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives (1990), Healthy People 2010 (November 2000) is an updated plan from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services detailing 467 objectives in twenty-eight focus areas to improve the nation's health. Its two general goals are to "help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve the quality of life" and to "eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population."
Nearly all of the Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives involve one or more of the three levels of prevention. For example, the overall goal for cancer is to "[r]educe the number of new cancer cases as well as the illness, disability, and death caused by cancer." To realize this goal may involve primary prevention to encourage people to avoid known carcinogens (cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco) and secondary prevention to encourage screenings to detect cancer in its earliest, most readily treatable stages. An example involving tertiary prevention action is the focus on disability and secondary conditions that seeks to "promote the health of people with disabilities, prevent secondary conditions, and eliminate disparities between people with and without disabilities in the U.S. population."
Healthy People 2010 not only sets forth ambitious goals related to disease prevention but also outlines population-specific health and prevention objectives. For example, the publication includes twenty-one objectives related to adolescent health, ranging from reducing violent deaths resulting from homicide and suicide to increasing seatbelt use. (See Table 2.6.)
User Comments Add a comment…