[Disease prevention and health promotion. Distinct and complementary strategies].
Health maintenance entails interventions beyond the biomedical knowledge, regarding: economic matters, education levels, improvement of work conditions, nutrition, housing, and environment; that is to say, overall well-being. According to the World Health Organization, well-being is not a health determinant but is included in the health definition. This is good from a social point of view and consistent with some economic findings, but can be misleading. The two aspects identifiable in the definition are: disease prevention and health promotion, which operate at different levels. The first one is conditioned by the sciences' reductionistic methodology and its strategies can be economically appraised; the other one is holistic and the economic and scientific evaluation of its actions is difficult. Moreover, both offer solutions to different questions of public health ethic. Thus, both are necessary and synergetic.
Rosmini
Francesco
F
Laboratorio di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Roma. rosmini@iss.it
D006293:Health Promotion / Q000941:ethics*; D007558:Italy; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D014944:World Health Organization