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Promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of ill health is a fundamental principle behind public health and improving the public’s health. The phrase ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often attributed to the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus in around 1500.

• It is now a fundamental principle of modern health care and inherent within health and social care strategies across the UK (See: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales ).
• Prevention is about tackling the upstream causes of ill health, this in itself is not controversial.
• The challenge is how it is paid for.

See: King’s Fund – Prevention is better than cure, except when it comes to paying for it, The results are not easily measured, because it is not easy to see where illness has not occurred. The UK has a rich history of focusing on prevention, from Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine in 1796 to John Snow using data analytics to determine the cause of the cholera outbreak in 1854.

1. While there has been huge progress across many public health trends, life expectancy in the UK has stalled and in some parts of the UK, has even decreased.
2. There are worrying trends in health inequalities, with an unprecedented reversal in life expectancy for some groups and stark inequalities between healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas.

Increasing rates of alcohol and drugs-related deaths and hospitalisations, STIs, and obesity and a shift in the pattern of ill health towards multiple health conditions are also indicative of the need for action. Nursing is essentially about providing quality evidence-based care and support to individuals and populations to improve health and well-being throughout life.

• In the past, public health has been seen as a niche specialty far removed from the typical image of nursing and only practiced by those with very specific qualifications.
• Nursing and midwifery staff are now increasingly recognised as instrumental in improving and supporting the public’s health at an individual, community and population level.

All nursing and midwifery staff are well placed to do this and need to embrace the contribution they can make to prevention. The ongoing challenge is having enough staff with the skills and time to make this essential contribution. The RCN have been campaigning for many years for a greater focus on prevention with adequate funding.

1. This is particularly pertinent in England, following the transfer of funding for public health to local authorities in 2013 and thereafter significant year on year cuts to local authority budgets and to the public health grant.
2. The RCN welcomed the announcement in the recent 2019 spending review of a real terms increase to the public health grant, which we see as a step in the right direction.

However, indications are that the increase will likely fall short of the amount needed to offset the years of cuts and is not based on an assessment of population need. Improving public health and preventing ill health is about more than health services; and requires action to address the wider determinants of health, for example, education, transport and employment, which need to be addressed alongside health services in a more systematic way and with cross-government action and investment.

1. The RCN’s commitment is for a properly funded cross-government prevention strategy with a nursing workforce who are able to deliver this.
2. We are calling for a long term sustainable investment in public health and prevention, which is based on assessment of population need and an understanding of health inequalities.

The RCN has key alliances with a number of organisations to support lobbying on public health. For example we are members of the Alcohol Health Alliance who have recently called for £1 billion spent in tax to alcohol industry to be spent on funding 40,000 nurse vacancies.

Who said precaution is better than cure?

Prevention is better than cure – Matt Hancock’s speech to IANPHI We’re here to talk prevention. And if there’s one thing that everybody knows it’s: ‘prevention is better than cure’. When I was thinking about prevention I looked into where this comes from. I’m told it was Erasmus, the 16th century Dutch philosopher, who coined the insight.

• The irony was that Erasmus died suddenly from an attack of dysentery, which we now know is a wholly preventable condition.
• The other person who can lay claim was Benjamin Franklin, who said: ‘an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure’.
• And Franklin founded the first fire brigade in Philadelphia and made it one of the safest cities for fires in the world.

So prevention works. As the founding fathers knew.

1. Prevention saves lives and saves money.
2. Two of the biggest health successes of the 20th century had prevention at their core: vaccination and cutting smoking.
3. In the UK, both were achieved by careful and considered government intervention.
4. We didn’t outlaw cigarettes because blanket bans curtail personal freedoms and often have the opposite effect.
5. We encouraged better behaviour through informing the public and by stopping smoking in public places where it could affect the health of others.

We didn’t compel people to vaccinate against their will. We helped them see it was in their interests and everybody else’s too. Ultimately, at the heart of our public provision for healthcare there’s a social contract. A social contract at the heart of our NHS.

• We, the citizens, have a right to the healthcare we need, when we need it, free at the point of use.
• But, we have a responsibility to pay our taxes to fund it, and to use the health service carefully, with consideration for others, and to comply with medical advice to look after ourselves.
• Because the NHS is not just a service – it’s a shared stake in society.

Too much of the health debate in England has been about our rights: what we deserve, and what the NHS can deliver. And, of course, those rights are important. But, I think we need to pay more attention to our responsibilities, as well as our rights. Today, I want to talk about those responsibilities, and our task for the National Health Service to help empower people to take more care of their own health.

I want to talk about how we need to focus more on prevention to transform our health and social care system, save money, eliminate waste and make the extra £20.5 billion we’re putting in go as far as it can. Because only with better prevention can our NHS be sustainable in the long term. Over just the last year, emergency admissions at A&E have increased by 6.6%.

This rate of growth of demand is simply unsustainable. But, of course, it’s not just about the finances. I want to talk about how preventing ill health can transform lives, and transform society for the better too. That might sound radical. It is intended to.

1. The government-wide plan we are publishing today sets out how we need a radical shift in how the NHS sees itself, from a hospital service for the ill, to a nationwide service to keep us healthy.
2. Where those who work on the front line of the NHS including the GPs, who are its bedrock, feel confident to remind people of their responsibilities too.
3. So first, let’s talk about those responsibilities.

At the core of my political philosophy is a belief that the state has a duty to protect the most vulnerable in society, and an equally firm belief that we must empower people to fulfil their potential to be the best they possibly can be. From the education they receive in school, to the freedom they have to achieve in work.

• And nowhere is this more true than with health.
• Given this duty, our starting point is to ask: what contributes to living longer in good health?
• The Prime Minister has set this question as part of the Ageing Grand Challenge – to seek 5 years’ longer healthy life expectancy by 2035.
• The best evidence points to a 4-factor breakdown.

Around a quarter of what leads to longer healthier life is acute care – or what goes on in hospitals. The second factor is genetics. The third factor is environmental – things like air quality that an individual can’t control.

1. And the final factor is what people do – the choices they make, the lifestyle they choose.
2. Different people put different proportions on these 4 factors: but suffice to say they’re all important.
3. Yet currently, we spend the overwhelming majority of the £115 billion NHS budget on acute care.
4. Last year, we spent just £11 billion on primary care where the bulk of prevention happens.
5. Yet the combination of prevention and predictive medicine have more than twice the impact on length of healthy life.
6. That isn’t just the difference between life and death, it’s the difference between spending the last 20 years of your life fit and active, or in a chronic condition.

So our focus must shift from treating single acute illnesses to promoting the health of the whole individual. And from prevention across the population as a whole to targeted, predictive prevention. So as the government is spending £20.5 billion more of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash over the next 5 years – the single, largest cash injection to the NHS ever – we must see the proportion of funding on primary and community care in the NHS rise.

• And that is exactly what will happen in the long-term plan.
• But it isn’t just about the quantum of money.
• It’s also about reform.
• I want to see people taking greater personal responsibility for managing their own health.
• For looking after themselves better, so staying active and stopping smoking.
• Now, I want to address head on how we can do this without undermining people’s liberty.

Take alcohol. Like many people, I enjoy the odd glass of wine. I support the budget in which we froze duty on scotch and beer. I don’t believe in punishing the masses to target those who need help. Yet alcohol abuse puts a huge burden on the NHS. High-risk drinkers make up less than 5% of the population, but consume over a third of all alcohol.

They’re more likely to end up in A&E. And drunk people are more likely to be responsible for abuse and violent attacks on NHS staff. I’ve seen it for myself. So we need action on alcohol that targets those who most need our support, without punishing those who don’t. Likewise, we know that smoking contributes to 4% of all hospital admissions in England each year.

And smoking costs the NHS around £2.5 billion each year. And this is despite the massive reduction in smoking over the past 30 years. For smoking, the next step towards a zero-smoking society is highly targeted anti-smoking interventions, especially in hospitals.

1. If someone is admitted as a heart patient, and we know that stopping smoking could save their life, then we will do everything we can to help them quit, as they do in Ottawa.
2. This is a Canadian model I like the look of.
3. I want to see bedside interventions in our hospitals so smokers who are patients are offered medication, behavioural support and follow-up checks when they go home.

And we need to fulfil our commitments to the obesity strategy, and set ambitious targets also on salt. Salt intake has fallen by 11% in under a decade, but if salt intake fell by a third it would prevent 8,000 premature deaths and save the NHS over £500 million annually.

• So we are working on new solutions to tackle salt and will set out more details by Easter.
• Because focusing on the responsibilities of patients shouldn’t be about penalising people but about helping people to make better choices.
• How do we do that? How can we empower people to take more care of their own health? By giving people the knowledge, skills and confidence to take responsibility for their own health.

By using new digital technologies, to help people make informed decisions, with more access to primary and community care, and with more social prescribing, all aimed at stopping people from becoming patients in the first place. So the second thing I want to talk about is how we must focus more on prevention to transform our health and social care system to save money, eliminate waste and get the best return on our extra £20.5 billion.

1. This isn’t just about empowering people to take more personal responsibility.
2. It’s about reforming the system and harnessing new opportunities.
3. There are 2 new technologies in particular with the potential to change everything: the combination of artificial intelligence and genomics.
4. They promise the potential to unlock our genetic codes; and allow us to apply those codes to how we live our lives.

To predict which of us are susceptible to which illnesses, to diagnose those already ill, faster, and to develop new tailor-made treatments to bring people back to health. Together, they will transform medicine. We are finally now able to crack that genetic factor of our health.

• We can intervene earlier.
• Save money on unnecessary and invasive tests.
• Eliminate waste by prescribing the right medication or the right treatment the first time round.
• And save NHS resources for people who really need it.
• And this isn’t something that’s far off in the future.
• It’s already happening.
• The new NHS Genomic Medicine Service is expanding.

In Cambridge, we’re at the cusp of sequencing the 100,000th genome, and are now aiming to sequence 5 million so we can diagnose rare diseases, more quickly and with fewer painful tests for patients. The world-leading Moorfields Eye Hospital is working with the world-leading AI company Deepmind.

Their AI system has made the correct diagnosis on over 50 different eye diseases with 94% accuracy – at least matching the best human experts. And that figure is only going to improve. These technologies, and other new digital services giving targeted health advice, are starting to transform global medicine.

As it has been with every wave of technology for the last 70 years, the NHS must be at the forefront, embracing these new technologies and shaping them as they evolve and improve. The NHS must go from being the world’s biggest buyer of fax machines to the tech pioneers of the future.

• From 1796 when Edward Jenner developed the first smallpox vaccine, to 1928 when Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, to 1950 when Richard Doll proved the link between smoking and cancer.
• The next frontier of prevention is using the data at our disposal to predict who will be ill with what, and to get in there early.
• The Prime Minister has spoken with great eloquence about the power of artificial intelligence to save lives by spotting cancer earlier – and we must do that.
• But predictive prevention has a far broader application.

From diagnosing a susceptibility to dementia due to a vitamin deficiency, to motivating activity to tackle obesity, we can have better, more targeted interventions than ever before. Again, giving better results, and helping the NHS eliminate waste and save money.

1. Our aim is to prevent people becoming patients through personalised advice and intervention.
2. Public Health England are leading the way on predictive prevention.
3. They are bringing together a range of experts so we can scale up this pioneering work to a national level.
4. Now, I’ve talked about acute care, genetics, and choices.

So let’s turn to the final factor in determining a healthy lifespan: the environment. And this is linked to my third and final point: how getting prevention right will transform society for the better. Right now, we tend to think of things in isolation.

Pollution is seen as an environmental problem. Employment is something for the Treasury to worry about. And housing is either a public good or a private investment. But health can’t work in isolation. Our health is affected by each and every one of those. So a true focus on prevention means tackling the environmental factors that affect a person’s health too.

It means a new drive for clean air, building on the successes of recent years in cutting emissions. Secure employment, building on the record number of jobs available now. Higher quality housing. And it also means our GP surgeries, our hospitals, our care homes, our entire health and care system working more closely with local authorities, schools, businesses, charities and all the other parts that make up our communities.

It means employers playing a bigger role in helping their staff stay healthy and to return to health after illness. And we can learn from the excellent work of our military here. Soldiers have an 85% return-to-work rate after a serious injury, and they obviously have some very serious injuries. The equivalent rate for civilians is only 35%.

The reason why the military is better at getting people back to work is because they are more engaged in their workers’ recovery at every stage of the process. Civilian employers must do the same. Employers have a responsibility to help improve the health of their staff and the nation.

1. To achieve this we need to strengthen the links between employers, their unwell staff, and the NHS.
2. That way, the challenge – for I never think of people as problems – doesn’t present itself at 3am at A&E.
3. Good health starts with the right pre-natal care, immunisation, nutritional support, fitness advice, minimising social media and mental health harms, secure employment, financial independence, safe housing, help with bad habits, friends and family to fight loneliness, careful and considered interventions at every stage of life into old age.
4. From cradle to grave, not just for the NHS, but for the whole of society.

Giving people responsibility for their own health. Empowering them to make the right decisions. The best help when they need help. That is what getting prevention right means. That is the potential of prevention. That is the promise that it offers: a healthier, happier future for us all. : Prevention is better than cure – Matt Hancock’s speech to IANPHI

Why precaution is better than cure?

Precaution: Precaution is an advanced action that is intended to avoid any abnormal health issues in the future. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE: It is easier to stop one disease from occurring by precaution, rather than by curing it.

What does it mean by prevention is better than cure?

British — used to say that it is better and easier to stop a problem, illness, etc., from happening than to stop or correct it after it has started

What are precautions always better than?

Precaution is always better than cure as diseases always cause certain damage to the body.

Why is precaution important?

Standard precautions are meant to reduce the risk of transmission of bloodborne and other pathogens from both recognized and unrecognized sources. They are the basic level of infection control precautions which are to be used, as a minimum, in the care of all patients.

Why should we prevent disease?

Chronic diseases —including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer — account for some of the most common health problems in the United States, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yet many of these chronic diseases are preventable, as they’re linked to poor diet and lifestyle choices including tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, and inadequate physical activity.

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability.70% of annual deaths are due to chronic diseases. These preventable conditions not only compromise quality of life, they add to rising health care costs—75% of our health care dollars are devoted to treat these diseases. Among adults ages 20 to 74, diabetes remains the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness, and non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations.

The good news is that you have the power to help prevent chronic disease, as making positive diet and lifestyle changes can help reduce risk. Eating healthy foods, getting enough exercise, and refraining from tobacco and excessive alcohol use confer numerous health benefits—including possibly preventing the onset of chronic diseases.

Is prevention is better than cure positive or negative?

Answer: Superlative :- Prevention is the best. Positive :- Cure is not as good as Prevention (is).

What are the 4 main precautions?

Hand hygiene. Use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, eyewear). Respiratory hygiene / cough etiquette. Sharps safety (engineering and work practice controls).

Why is prevention better than cure essay?

How it Relates to our Daily Life – Most of the people suffer from various fatal diseases which have almost no cure or impossible to cure. Some of the diseases have very expensive treatment. People suffering from such diseases are cured by using very hard medicines having lots of side effects in present or in near future.

• In order to remain away from such diseases, prevention is a great key we can be safe from deadly diseases.
• Prevention is very cheap and save lots of money, time and effort of us.
• If prevention methods are followed by the people, they remain safe and happy forever.
• Poor people cannot afford costly medical treatments.

So, we should take care of us all through proper prevention methods so that we can be away from cure. We have only one life which is very important to all of us. We should live it, not destroy by inviting various problems and difficulties. Life can be more happy and peaceful if we become disciplined and follow principles of this proverb.

Conclusion : By properly understanding the meaning and principles of prevention, we can learn how to save ourselves from deadly and fatal diseases. Generally people know the definitions of making their lives healthier and happier. But they forget the key point of control, discipline and patience. Cure becomes the last step to get our body out of danger however sometimes we cannot get the normal health back in case of some serious diseases.

Our doctors may save the life but cannot return the happiness in life. People, who already had suffered difficulties in life, well understand the value the prevention. But, it is better, if people understand its value before getting into any difficulty.

What is 1 example of prevention?

Primary prevention – Primary prevention aims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs. This is done by preventing exposures to hazards that cause disease or injury, altering unhealthy or unsafe behaviours that can lead to disease or injury, and increasing resistance to disease or injury should exposure occur. Examples include:

legislation and enforcement to ban or control the use of hazardous products (e.g. asbestos) or to mandate safe and healthy practices (e.g. use of seatbelts and bike helmets) education about healthy and safe habits (e.g. eating well, exercising regularly, not smoking) immunization against infectious diseases.

How did Hippocrates cure?

Common Questions About Hippocratic Remedy – Q: What did Hippocrates emphasize on? The Hippocratic remedy greatly emphasized strengthening and building the body’s innate resistance to disease. Hippocrates recommended exercise, gymnastics, massage, and hydrotherapy for this.

Q: How did Hippocrates improve medicine? Many times called the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates made some very important contributions in developing medicine. The Hippocratic oath eventually led to better treatments. Q: Which Hippocratic idea is still being used? Hippocrates developed a theory known as the Theory of Four Humors which explained disease in the context of liquids in the body and their balance.

He also favored clinical observation which is still very much in use today.

How did Hippocrates cure people?

Interventions on Trauma Care – Wars were a common phenomenon in ancient Greece. There are records that indicate treatment practices on wounds during the Trojan War and even treatment of infected wounds. For such treatments medicinal preparations were taken from nature, such as seawater, honey, vinegar, rainwater and medicinal plants in the form of powder ( 18 ).

1. In Homer’s “Iliada” injuries and amputations that reflect the actual care of wounds are described in wars in ancient Greece, and Hippocrates noticed the separation of limb gangrene and made incisions between dead and alive tissue to treat the condition ( 19 ).
2. Hippocrates’s views were highly innovative for their time as he suggested chest tube output for possible liquid in external fixation and traction when aligning broken bones.

He believed that in order to properly and quickly heal the wounds they must be kept dry, after being taken care of using pure water or wine ( 20 ). In addition, the formation of pus was considered a positive factor for the reduction of wound complications because of the frequent occurrence of infections.

Why did Ben Franklin say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

Origins – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is attributed to Benjamin Franklin. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States as well as a politician, writer, scientist, inventor, and printer. This is one of his best-known sayings.

Where did Benjamin Franklin say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

And now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. Sometimes in life, you need to act quickly. Thinking too much about a problem does not always help. It can hold us back. We have expressions that describe this way of thinking. “No time like the present.” “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” “Just do it!” But sometimes slower is better.

1. Many things in life require careful thought and preparation.
2. Sometimes we need to be cautious and take precautions.
3. A great expression for that kind of behavior is, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This saying comes to us from Benjamin Franklin.
4. In addition to being a writer, Franklin was a printer, political thinker, politician, scientist, inventor and diplomat.

He was also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. So, he was a busy man. But Franklin still found time to write and offer his advice to others. If he were alive today, he could probably make a good living as a life coach. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is one of his most famous sayings.

Now, Franklin lived during the 1700s, before the metric system took effect in Europe. The word ounce means something really small – just two one-hundredths of a kilogram to be exact. So, his expression meant that, when dealing with a problem, spending a small amount of time and effort early on is a good investment.

It can save you more trouble in the end. For example, if a country announces strong measures for containing a virus, we could say, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It is better to take severe precautions than to suffer severe consequences later.

Word historians say that when Franklin first used this expression, he was not talking about disease but rather fire prevention. During a visit to Boston in 1733, Franklin was impressed with the city’s fire prevention methods. He tried to bring some of these practices to the city of Philadelphia, where he lived.

Supposedly, Franklin sent an unsigned letter to his own newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette, Published on February 4, 1735, his letter – “Protection of Towns from Fire” – began with the expression “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Then he wrote about how a city should prepare itself for a fire.

From protecting yourself against sickness to preventing a house fire, this expression can be used in serious situations. It is a fixed expression, meaning we don’t change the wording when we use it. We simply repeat it as is. Let’s listen to this example: How is the deal going with your real estate agent? Are you ready to buy your new house? Just about.

I have a few more questions about home insurance, So, I’m meeting with a financial advisor and an insurance agent this week. They are sure to give you a lot of information. Do you really think it’s necessary? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If I get anything wrong, it will be difficult to fix later on. And it will cost more, too! Didn’t you lose a lot of money on repairs to your house because it was under-insured? Um Good point. Let’s change the subject! Now, another way to say this expression is “Better safe than sorry.” We use this one for many different situations – serious and not so serious.

Let’s listen to this dialogue, What a great day to be at the park! Thanks for the invite! Sure thing. The weather is great! So, why did you bring an umbrella? Well, the weather forecast said it could rain later today. I heard that too. But look – there’s not a cloud in the sky! Oh, no! You cannot be serious! Quick! Come under my umbrella! See.

• Better safe than sorry.
• Okay, okay! Good point.
• Now, let’s get out of this rain.
• Here it is better to say “better safe than sorry.” Benjamin Franklin’s advice would have sounded a little too serious.
• And that’s the end of this Words and Their Stories ! The next time you want to take care and avoid problems down the road use the expressions you heard here.

Until next time I’m Anna Matteo! Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Who said an ounce of prevention quote?

September 9, 2021 Jack E. Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, United States Donald R. Newcomer Glendale, Arizona, United States

Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790, Writer, publisher, philosopher, postmaster, scientist, diplomat. The Saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is commonly attributed to Franklin. Image credit: Painting by Joseph Duplessis, circa 1785. National Portrait Gallery NPG.87.43. Via Wikimedia

Being old and lame of my Hands, and thereby uncapable of assisting my Fellow Citizens, when their Houses are on Fire; I must beg them to take in good Part the following Hints, In the first Place, as an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure -Benjamin Franklin The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 4, 1735 Benjamin Franklin’s famous quotes gave advice that often seemed intuitive, obvious, and true.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is certainly applicable in medicine.1 Was Franklin speaking strictly about “the protection of towns from fire”? 1 His words would also seem to imply, “Your failure to prevent does not obligate me to assist in your cure.” “Old and lame” Franklin, a founding father known for sarcasm and humor, was twenty-nine years old when he wrote that article.

What would he have thought if his house burned down because of someone else’s failure to keep their chimney clean? Franklin, by his own words, was not averse to fines being levied against those who failed to prevent a catastrophe that affected others.1 The relationship between prevention and cure is far from simple, is always context dependent, and has varying applications in diverse situations.

Let us consider this in the context of crime, specifically with the example of a serial killer. Is there any rational individual who would not want to prevent future victims from a Jack-the-Ripper-style killer? These perpetrators frequently share similar life experiences thought to predispose them to becoming feared predators.2,3 However, most individuals with these life experiences do not become serial killers, and the number of active serial killers is very small compared to the number of crimes committed in the typical progression of a serial sexual killer (burglary, assault, rape, homicide).

With this is mind, the city of Phoenix was sued for not preventing subsequent murder victims by the Baseline killer when it was later discovered that a piece of DNA evidence from a prior victim’s case had not been submitted for comparison in a DNA database, although other samples from the same case had been.

(For more information regarding the Baseline killer, read here and here,) As is so often the case with serial killers, the pieces of evidence seem to easily fit together in retrospect.4 But finding the killer (the proverbial needle in the haystack) from a plethora of often extraneous clues is always more difficult prospectively.

The lawsuit on behalf of later victims of the Baseline killer against the city of Phoenix for failure to prevent was ultimately dismissed ( 1 CA-CV 15-0151.pdf (azcourts.gov) ). In the situation of serial killers, prevention may not be a practical expectation.

1. For the time being, cure (removal from society, one serial killer at a time) may be the most obtainable goal.
2. Covid-19 presents a different challenge with respect to the relationship between prevention and cure.
3. Covid-19 is a viral illness without specific or definitive treatment.
4. Cure, for the most part, means allowing the disease to run its natural course and hoping for survival without sequelae.

However, a highly effective means of prevention exists in the form of vaccination.5 Who would not want to take advantage of a means of prevention that essentially equates to cure? Naturally occurring smallpox, long a human scourge, was eradicated by vaccination.

However, Covid-19, it now appears, will continue to plague society and economies, in part because of vaccine hesitancy.6 Why is this so? Could it be that a counterintuitive truism is at play? If one believes that “the treatment is worse than the disease” (that is, the Covid-19 vaccination or even wearing a mask, is worse than the Covid-19 infection), then individuals will reject prevention.

Where you stand on this medical, and now political, spectrum may be revealed by how you answer one question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

What is the saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com. A little precaution before a crisis occurs is preferable to a lot of fixing up afterward. (See also A stitch in time saves nine.)