Preventive Healthcare

Preventive healthcare is being focused upon in the country which was not taken care of for the last seventy years. In the past, India has placed a higher priority on curative medicine than on preventative care. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has made preventative treatment increasingly crucial in India. Read here to learn more about preventive health care.

The preventative healthcare sector, including fitness, wellness, foods and supplements, early diagnostics, and health tracking, is expected to reach $197 billion by 2025 in India.

The health care start-ups are revolutionizing preventative care in the areas of nutrition, wellness, cancer, genomics, and much more in recent years.

The immediate need is to use more recent technological advances to successfully deliver high-quality healthcare to a billion people throughout India.

Preventive healthcare

Measures used to avoid disease are referred to as prophylaxis or preventive healthcare.

• Disease and disability are dynamic processes that start before a person is aware they are affected.
• They are influenced by environmental variables, genetic predisposition, disease agents, and lifestyle choices.

Since prevention entails avoiding or delaying the onset of an illness, which is crucial for a high quality of life, preventive healthcare is a significant factor in determining health.

This sector has grown over time and has become one of the industry’s main foundations.

Early illness diagnosis by preventative testing not only saves lives, but also shields a person and his family from suffering severe physical, emotional, and financial hardship.

Preventing disease relies on anticipatory behaviors that can be classified as basic or primal, Primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive measures.

• Primal prevention: Based on the knowledge that epigenetic modifications begin at conception, primal prevention has been proposed as a distinct category of health promotion. Primordial prevention refers to strategies intended to stop risk factors from emerging in the first place, early in life.
• Primary prevention: Techniques for preventing the occurrence of illness, either by removing disease agents or boosting resistance to disease. Vaccinations against diseases, following a healthy diet and exercise routine, and quitting smoking are a few examples.
• Secondary prevention: Techniques for identifying and treating diseases before symptoms show up. Examples include cancer screenings and the treatment of hypertension, which is a risk factor for numerous cardiovascular illnesses.
• Tertiary prevention: Techniques for using treatment and rehabilitation to lessen the effects of symptomatic diseases, such as incapacity or mortality. Examples include medical techniques that stop the progression or spread of illness.
• Quaternary prevention: Techniques to lessen or prevent the effects of pointless or excessive interventions in the health system, including human rights breaches.

Importance of preventive healthcare

The prevalence of conditions including diabetes, thyroid, hypertension, and heart disease has increased as a result of fast-paced lives.

The increased incidence of chronic and non-communicable illnesses, which is promoting the use of preventative healthcare strategies, is another major cause for worry.

Additionally, due to its cost, preventative healthcare is more adaptable for a nation like India.

Preventive health care has numerous advantages-

• It has the potential to increase a person’s lifespan through early diagnosis and treatment.
• It reduces the risk of complications during the treatment.
• A regular preventive health check-up helps in reducing medical expenses.
• It helps in precise and time-saving diagnosis of medical issues which may become chronic otherwise.

Preventive health checkups help medical experts spot problems early before it’s too late. These positive outcomes from early activities help the person enjoy a happy and healthy life.

Additionally, the therapy of many disorders depends on the results of diagnostic testing. It is now possible to focus on the various stages of controlling the disease with the use of several tests.

Steps to strengthen preventive healthcare

The following aspects can be taken into consideration to significantly develop India’s preventative healthcare sector:

• The government should implement a healthcare system geared towards prevention, screening, early intervention, and new treatment modalities to reduce the burden of chronic disease.
• An integrated preventive healthcare system that will raise awareness and enable the detection and diagnosis of diseases.
• Having access to inexpensive, fair healthcare services. optimum use of government funds and increased government investment in health care.
• Corporates should be encouraged to take preventative steps for their employees.
• The government should implement mandatory routine health checks through healthcare programs starting at age 25.
• Health education that focuses on illness prevention via awareness and knowledge about treatment options must also be regarded as necessary health care.
• Having a sufficient quantity, diversity, and infrastructure of health workers.
• Need to establish personal health records and promote population disease screening.
• Enhancing local hospitals’ ability to detect and treat Non-Communicable Diseases.

Way forward

“Prevention” is the government’s primary area of interest in the healthcare industry for the future. Preventive healthcare was generally undervalued in India; hence the aim is to change this scenario in the healthcare sector.

The need to refocus on enhancing preventative healthcare services is seen in programs like “Health for All” and “The National Health Assurance Mission” along with other healthcare schemes by the government.

The field of preventive healthcare in India is growing. The market for preventive healthcare in India is presently estimated to be worth over $800 million.

The market is a fantastic chance to provide cutting-edge technological solutions. Players in the healthcare industry are moving in the direction of more patient and user empowerment and improved patient engagement models.

Preventive healthcare has gained popularity in the urban and semi-urban sectors as a result of increasing disposable income and public awareness of health issues.

-Article written by Swathi Satish