Levels of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention

Health promotion fosters the ability for people to exert control over their health, resulting in improved health status, enhanced quality of life, and reduction in premature deaths.

The basic strategies used for health promotion are enabling, mediating, and advocacy.

Illness prevention is also known as health protection. It aims to minimize the burden of disease and associated risk factors.

Ideally, illness prevention starts before the signs and symptoms of any disease or shortly thereafter.

Health promotion and illness prevention programs use three levels of approach to empower individuals to make healthier choices and reduce their risk of disease and disability.

The first level, primary prevention, is the actions taken before the onset of disease, which may remove the possibility of the disease. It includes health education, environmental modifications, nutritional interventions, and lifestyle and behavioral changes.

Secondary prevention is the actions that slow down the progress of a disease, it includes early detection and prompt treatment.

Tertiary prevention focuses on minimizing suffering and limiting impairment and disabilities by promoting rehabilitation.