| There are two basic divisions in health interventions:
*between prevention of disease before it happens and curing disease once it has occurred;
*between biomedical and public health interventions. The former are associated with medicines and vaccines and can be curative or preventative.
The latter are associated with broader measures, including securing access to clean water and effective sanitation, and health education programmes on a variety of subjects (e.g. on nutrition, hygiene, sexual behaviour, abuse of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs).
Activity twelve
(a) Complete this table concerning commonly known health measures.
| Health measure |
Prevention or cure? |
Biomedical or public health intervention?
|
| Antibiotics for respiratory diseases |
CURE |
|
| Secure and adequate nutrition |
|
|
| Access to clean water |
|
|
| Mass immunization against major infectious diseases |
|
BIOMEDICAL |
| Health education |
|
|
| Safe sanitation |
|
|
| Oral rehydration therapy (the mixture of sugar and salts given to children)
|
|
|
You can download a copy of this table to work on
Question: Can any of these measures be used in the fight against AIDS at present?
Now, compare your answers with mine, on the next page.
|
