- Petra Meier, professor of public well being1,
- Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, professor of public well being and well being inequalities1,
- Katherine Smith, professor of public well being coverage2
- 1MRC/CSO Social and Public Well being Sciences Unit, Faculty of Well being and Wellbeing, College of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
- 2Faculty of Social Work and Social Coverage, College of Strathclyde, Strathclyde, UK
- Correspondence to: P Meier petra.meier{at}glasgow.ac.uk
Major prevention tackles the underlying causes of ailing well being, stopping or considerably delaying onset, lowering the burden of illness in populations, and serving to people stay longer, more healthy lives. In flip, this reduces strain on well being and social care methods. Major prevention promotes well being fairness by addressing the unequal distribution of the social, financial, environmental, and industrial determinants of well being—for instance, via lowering poverty, regulating air high quality, or taxing unhealthy commodities.1 It additionally makes financial sense: it’s usually more economical to stop illness than to deal with it, saving healthcare methods and people cash whereas sustaining individuals’s capability to work.2
It’s subsequently welcome that England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, lately said that motion on major prevention is a political selection and known as on ministers and native leaders to be daring in enacting insurance policies that deal with the foundation causes of ailing well being.3 For a authorities official, these are sturdy phrases.
But it’s exhausting to see how he might come to another conclusion, when the UK authorities appears so reluctant to …
