Question:
A foreign health expert said if Singapore want to maintain a low public
healthcare expenditure, they should start more "preventive medicine"
among its people, because cost of drugs will become more expensive in
the future.
What is this preventive medicine ?
Answer:
Primary Prevention
Primary prevention includes actions taken to reduce the risk of
developing a disease. Good examples of primary prevention are
immunization against disease, exercise to prevent the onset of heart
disease, smoking cessation, and maintaining a normal weight.
Secondary Prevention
Secondary prevention involves early diagnosis and immediate treatment to
shorten the duration of an illness, limit the severity of a disease,
prevent infecting others, and reduce the incidence of complications.
Examples of secondary prevention would be the diagnosis of an early
cancer of the breast with mammography, appropriate treatment to remove
the cancer, and screening for cervical and colon cancers.
Tertiary Prevention
Tertiary prevention focuses on limiting disability and promoting
rehabilitation from a chronic disease. Rehabilitation after a limb
amputation is an example of tertiary prevention as well as metastatic
cancer treatment and palliation, treatment of diabetes and its
complications, and cardiac rehabilitation.
