Importance of prevention

Do you do anything to prevent disease and illness for your health? Prevention has a huge role to play in health promotion in naturopathic care and health care more generally.

Prevention in naturopathic medicine refers to the proactive steps and strategies taken to maintain and improve health. This concept aligns closely with all of the naturopathic principles. Similar to other naturopathic principles, prevention also has its roots from the Corpus Hippocraticum World Naturopathic Federation, 2017. This principle relates to the prevention of disease and illness and the obtainment of optimal health for patients Snider & Zeff, 2019. This principle is used in conjunction with Doctor as Teacher Docere to guide patients on how to prevent disease through healthier lifestyle choices and behaviours. While prevention is a key naturopathic principle, it is also a widely used concept in public health and health promotion strategies. The use of prevention is through health promotion activities can be conducted on two levels – the patient level and at the community levels. Such health promotion activities can include promoting a healthy lifestyle, assessing and removing risk factors, identifying susceptibility of disease and employing treatment strategies World Naturopathic Federation, 2017.

Importance of disease prevention

If patients are educated about health and disease in a way that is directly relevant to them, could they potentially prevent the onset or progression of disease? This is an important question to consider given that naturopaths regularly consult with patients who are at risk of, or have been diagnosed with chronic diseases. The video below provides an overview of prevention as a concept in public health and health promotion strategies and how prevention can improve patients health at the individual and community level.