Title: Levels of disease prevention
Course: Level 3 - Health Education and Promotion > Section: Human behaviour and health

Prevention is defined as the planning for and the measures taken to prevent the onset of a disease or other health problem before the occurrence of undesirable health events. There are three distinct levels of prevention: primary, secondary, tertiary prevention.

a) Primary Level of Prevention

Primary prevention is comprised of those preventive activities carried out by a healthy individual to keep himself and other people from getting disease. Examples of important behaviors for primary prevention includes using rubber gloves when there is a potential for the spread of disease, immunizing against specific diseases, exercise, and brushing teeth. And the role of health education here is aimed at the prevention of the onset of illness or health problems.

b) Secondary Level of Prevention

Secondary prevention includes preventive measures that lead to an early diagnosis and prompt treatment of a problem/disease before it becomes serious. It is important to ensure that the community can recognize early signs of disease and go for treatment before the disease become serious. The actions people take before consulting a health worker, including recognition of symptoms, taking home remedies ("self-medication"), consulting family and healers are called illness behaviors. Illness behaviors are important examples of behaviors for secondary prevention. For example: screening for high blood pressure and breast self-examination.

c) Tertiary Level of Disease Prevention

Tertiary prevention seeks to limit disability/death or complications arising from an irreversible condition. The use of disability aids and rehabilitation services help people from further deterioration and loss of function. For example, a diabetic patient should take strictly his/her daily insulin injection to prevent complications, HIV/AIDs patient should use ART drugs to prolong his life.

Health Education can be applied at all three levels of disease prevention and can be of great help in maximizing the gains from preventive behavior. For example at the primary prevention level you could educate people to practice some of the preventive behaviors, such as having a balanced diet so that they can protect themselves from developing diseases in the future.

At the secondary level, you could educate people to visit their local health centre when they experience symptoms of illness, such as fever, so they can get early treatment for their health problems. At the tertiary level, you could educate people to take their medication appropriately and find ways of working towards rehabilitation from significant illness or disability.