Posted by Liberia Health Solution
In Liberia, our organization, under the leadership of Dr. Phanta Sackor, Ph.D., executive director of Public Health Liberia, is focused on health and wellness promotion.
Executive Director
Public Health Liberia, Inc.
Health promotion improves the health status of individuals, families, communities, states, and the nation. Health promotion enhances the quality of life for all people. Health promotion reduces premature deaths.
Health promotion is the process of improving and protecting the health of the public, including individuals, populations, and communities. Health promotion and disease prevention can be achieved through planned activities and programs that are designed to improve population health outcomes.
Like most societies, the Liberian society must create and maintain the conditions under which members of the community can be healthy. The public health system focuses on prevention through population-based health promotion-those public services and interventions which protect entire populations from illness, disease, and injury-and protection.
Our health promotion programs in Liberia aim to engage and empower individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviors and make changes that reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and other morbidities. … “The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health” through prevention strategies.
Prevention Strategy: Types of Prevention
In general, preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases instead of curing or treating the symptoms. The three levels of preventive care—primary, secondary, and tertiary care—are detailed below:
Primary Prevention
Primary prevention aims to avoid the development of a disease or disability in healthy individuals.2 Most population-based health promotion activities, such as encouraging less consumption of sugars to reduce caries risk, are primary preventive measures. Other examples of primary prevention in medicine and dentistry include the use of fluoridated toothpaste, and vaccinations for infectious diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and polio.
Secondary Prevention
The focus of secondary prevention is early disease detection, making it possible to prevent the worsening of the disease and the emergence of symptoms or to minimize complications and limit disabilities before the disease becomes severe.2 Secondary prevention also includes the detection of disease in asymptomatic patients with screening or diagnostic testing and preventing the spread of communicable diseases. Examples in dentistry and medicine include screening for caries, periodontal screening and recording for periodontal disease, and screening for breast and cervical cancer.
Tertiary Prevention
The goal of tertiary prevention is to reduce the negative impact of an already-established disease by restoring function and reducing disease-related complications.2 Tertiary prevention also aims to improve the quality of life for people with the disease. In medicine and dentistry, tertiary prevention measures include the use of amalgam and composite fillings for dental caries, replacement of missing teeth with bridges, implants, or dentures, or insulin therapy for Type II diabetes.
