Prevention

In public health, it has been common practice to categorise the different goals — or levels — of prevention across a 'stages of disease' continuum in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention Many of these relate to approaches that can be delivered by the health sector. In addition, in some countries, public health applies strategic and planning skills to improve health service management.

Components of disease prevention include:

• Primary prevention: vaccination

• Secondary prevention: screening

• Tertiary prevention: rehabilitation, healthcare management and planning