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This page is about the saying “Prevention is better than cure” Possible meaning: It’s better to take care that a problem does not happen than to have to solve the problem afterwards. It’s easier to stop something bad from happening in the first place than to fix the damage after it has happened.

Why is it important to prevent diseases?

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.

Do we need to prevent and treat diseases?

Microbe Awareness – Daily habits provide some of the strongest defenses against infectious diseases. Among the sensible actions you can take:

Keep immunizations up to date. Wash your hands often. Washing with regular soap and rinsing with running water, followed by thorough drying, is considered the most important way to prevent disease transmission. Routine consumer use of residue-producing antibacterial products, such as those containing the chemical triclosan, have not been proven to confer health benefits and may actually contribute to antibiotic resistance. Prepare and handle food carefully. (See “How to Protect Yourself” in the Foodborne Pathogens section on page 16.) Use antibiotics only for infections caused by bacteria. Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics. Your doctor may prescribe an antiviral medication if your condition warrants it. Report to your doctor any rapidly worsening infection or any infection that does not get better after taking a course of antibiotics, if prescribed. Be careful around all wild animals and unfamiliar domestic animals. After any animal bite, cleanse the wound with soap and water and consult a clinician for further evaluation. Enjoy wild animals with your eyes, not by touching them. Avoid insect bites whenever possible by using insect repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and a hat outdoors. Protect yourself by using safe sex practices. You and your partner should be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, if there has been any risk of exposure. Consistently and correctly use condoms when having sex with a partner of unknown status. Avoid sex with an injecting drug user. Stay alert to disease threats when traveling or visiting underdeveloped countries. Seek advice from a reliable source, such as the WHO or the CDC, if you are going to areas of moderate-to-high disease risk. Acquire healthy habits such as eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, and avoiding tobacco and illegal drug use.

What are the benefits of reducing diseases?

Benefits of prevention for wellbeing The causes of chronic disease are often beyond the control of the individual. These causes may include a range of factors such as biomedical (for example, blood glucose levels and blood pressure), as well as the wider social determinants of health – for example, the social, environmental, structural, economic, cultural, commercial and digital environments in which we live, work, play and age.

• The risk factors for chronic disease, such as poor diet, obesity, physical inactivity, harmful alcohol consumption and tobacco use, are influenced by environments that do not support healthy behaviours.
• Environments can also be designed to support healthier choices, such providing access to nutritious food or building pavements and cycleways.

Evidence shows that prevention strategies that create even small changes in the prevalence of risk factors for chronic disease are likely to lead to a significant reduction in the health burden of chronic disease for communities, individuals and the healthcare system.

• To effectively address the underlying causes of chronic disease, we need a that supports us to create conditions that influence better health, especially for people who live in environments that contribute to poorer health outcomes.
• There is strong evidence that the greatest health benefits are achieved by combining various strategies and approaches to target multiple risk factors.

This reflects the complexity of chronic disease and demonstrates that successful preventive action is needed across multiple levels and sectors of the system. Strategies that support people to lead healthier lives are demonstrated to have long-lasting physical health benefits.

These strategies can lead to better quality of life as well as less chance of:

• dying young
• developing a chronic disease
• suffering complications of disease
• suffering infectious diseases such as COVID-19
• experiencing pain
• going to hospital or taking regular medications
• becoming overweight or obese
• developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes
• being injured.

Prevention strategies in childcare settings and schools can reduce sedentary behaviour including screen time, increase physical activity, improve dietary outcomes and have significant health and social benefits. Health benefits for children are more likely to occur when strategies are implemented in the community, as well as in families or households.

• Australia’s world-leading work to control tobacco use is an example of health benefits that have been realised from prevention.
• A range of interventions including regulation and policies (for example, smoking bans), fiscal interventions such as tobacco excise, mass media campaigns, and healthy lifestyle programs to promote smoking cessation have seen a large reduction in smoking from 24% of people smoking daily in 1991 to 11% in 2019,
• As tobacco use poses a significant health burden in Australia, interventions such as stopping people (especially children and young people) from taking up smoking are one of the most effective public health strategies with a strong body of evidence of health benefit.

Prevention can produce mental wellbeing benefits. Evidence shows that supporting people to do more physical activity significantly reduces the risk of depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and psychosis. Encouraging healthier diets would lower the number of people at risk of depression.

The publications and other resources listed in the references below may be useful to those looking for more detailed and in-depth evidence around the benefits of chronic disease prevention.

1. Howse, E, Crosland, P, Rychetnik, L, Wilson, A. The value of prevention: An Evidence Review brokered by the Sax Institute for the Centre for Population Health, NSW Ministry of Health. Sydney, Australia: The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, 2021.
2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2022. Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia
3. Reilly JJ, Hughes AR, Gillespie J, Malden S, Martin A. Physical activity interventions in early life aimed at reducing later risk of obesity and related non-communicable diseases: A rapid review of systematic reviews. Obesity Reviews.2019;20(S1):61-73. doi:
4. Goldthorpe J, Epton T, Keyworth C, Calam R, Armitage CJ. Are primary/elementary school-based interventions effective in preventing/ameliorating excess weight gain? A systematic review of systematic reviews. Obesity Reviews.2020;21(6). doi:
5. Shackleton N, Jamal F, Viner Russell M, Dickson K, Patton G, Bonell C. School-Based Interventions Going Beyond Health Education to Promote Adolescent Health: Systematic Review of Reviews. Journal of Adolescent Health.2016;58(4):382-96. doi:
6. Zubala A, MacGillivray S, Frost H, Kroll T, Skelton Dawn A, Gavine A, et al. Promotion of physical activity interventions for community dwelling older adults: A systematic review of reviews. PloS one.2017;12(7):e0180902. doi:
7. Comans T, Nguyen K-H, Gardiner P, Rahja M, N.M. Community-based health promotion for older adults: an Evidence Check rapid review brokered by the Sax Institute. Sydney, Australia: Sax Institute; 2019.
8. Browne J, Adams K, Atkinson P, Gleeson D, Hayes R. Food and nutrition programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: an overview of systematic reviews. Australian Health Review.2018;42(6):689-97. doi:
9. Gwynn J, Sim K, Searle T, Senior A, Lee A, Brimblecombe J. Effect of nutrition interventions on diet-related and health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: A systematic review. BMJ Open.2019;9(4). doi:
10. Astell-Burt T, Feng X. The effect of urban form on wellbeing: an Evidence Check rapid review brokered by the Sax Institute for the NSW Centre for Population Health. Sydney, Australia: Sax Institute; 2016.
11. Bowen K, M P. The evidence base for linkages between green infrastructure, public health and economic benefit. Melbourne, Australia: Government of Victoria; 2015.

• Firth J, Solmi M, Wootton RE, Vancampfort D, Schuch FB, Hoare E, et al. A meta-review of “lifestyle psychiatry”: The role of exercise, smoking, diet and sleep in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders. World Psychiatry.2020;19(3):360-80.
• Barnett P, Gomez M, Rowbotham S, Wutzke S. Effective whole-of-population strategies for preventing chronic disease. A rapid evidence review prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health on behalf of The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre. Sydney, Australia: Sax Institute; 2017.
• Astell-Burt T, Feng X. The effect of urban form on wellbeing: an Evidence Check rapid review brokered by the Sax Institute for the NSW Centre for Population Health. Sydney, Australia: Sax Institute; 2016.  

: Benefits of prevention for wellbeing

Is prevention better than cure countable or uncountable?

Prevention and cure both are uncountable noun.

Chukwudi Eze