Prevention in Clinical Practice

Prevention of disease and injury, including early identification of risks and disease and optimal control of potentially debilitating or fatal complications of chronic conditions, is the area of clinical medicine that holds the greatest promise for improving human health. Each year a long list of major, but potentially preventable health problems exacts a terrible human and financial toll. These problems urgently need our attention, especially as major advances in curative medicine become more complex and costly. Prevention of disease and injury may well be the central health issue of our time, an issue of vital concern to every quarter of our society. Now is a very good time to promote prevention. Citizens and some social groups are increasingly aware of and interested in health and fitness issues. There is great enthusiasm about-even obsession with-health, and we are seeing an astonishing proliferation of health publications and media presentations for laymen, fitness and weight control cen- ters, exercise programs, health food stores, disease support groups, health education programs, and do-it-yourself diagnostic kits. All of this betokens an increased health consciousness on the part of public and perhaps signals greater individual accountability for health.