Preventive Healthcare isn’t just a precaution, it’s a necessity. As kids, many of us get regular checkups, stay up-to-date on our vaccines, and get monthly dental cleanings. Yet, as adults, many of us neglect these essential health practices, leading to greater health challenges down the line.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Repeated in proposed health plans (The Healthcare Imperative)
While the early 2010s saw an increase in the uptake of preventive services, since 2018, there’s been a sharp decline in the amount of people who integrate prevention health services into their lives. (Health Partners)
With barriers like cost, not having a primary care provider, living far from providers, and a lack of awareness about recommended preventive care — many people miss out on the preventive care they need. It’s not that they don’t want it, but access is limited. (health.gov)
The preventive medicine we all know amounts to wellness checkups, vaccinations, and cancer screenings. While these classics will never go out of style, preventive care is taking a new direction. Research suggests we should take an approach where community reigns. This starts with incorporating health measures for the collective and strategically motivating local communities. (National Library of Medicine)
Let’s explore the importance of preventive healthcare, the alarming decline in its utilization, and how we can reverse this trend for a healthier future.
What Is Preventive Healthcare?
In simplest terms, preventive healthcare is what you can do to avoid getting sick. Called Prophylaxis in the medical world, preventive care is different for everyone. Factors like age, family health and medical history, sex assigned at birth, and more impact which actions would make the most difference for you.
Let’s say you have a family history of chronic diseases like heart disease or osteoporosis. You can’t change your genetics, but you can mitigate risk factors by changing unhealthy behaviors like smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, or excessive drinking. (CDC)
Preventive care is about more than individual action, however. It requires public health initiatives to make a difference. Actions from specialties like general preventive medicine, epidemiology, occupational medicine, and aerospace medicine work separately to achieve the collective goal of protecting the public’s health. (ACPM)
By combining individual and community efforts, we can significantly reduce the burden of disease and improve overall quality of life.
A Troubling Trend: The Decline In Preventive Care
Healthy People 2030 sets national objectives based on data with the goal of improving health and well-being over the next decade.
Their most relevant goal for our conversation is: Increase the proportion of adults who get recommended evidence-based preventive health care. The current status of that goal? “GETTING WORSE.”
Their data show a strong decline in the use of Preventive Services. In 2020, only 5.3 percent of adults 35+ received the recommended, high-priority preventive care services, a stark difference from 8.5 percent in 2015. The goal is 11.5 percent, and we have a long way to go.
This downward trend indicates that millions of people are missing out on essential healthcare services that could prevent serious illnesses or detect them at an early stage.
Why Is Preventive Medicine Necessary?
Preventive medicine is extra important when it comes to chronic illnesses that sneak up on us — the same ones that seem impossible to treat once they’ve taken hold, causing the most damage.
According to the CDC, more than half of American adults struggle with chronic conditions and almost half struggle with chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, or dementia. These conditions often develop slowly over time, making early detection and management crucial.
Chronic diseases are not only a leading cause of death in the United States, but they are also the primary drivers of healthcare costs. By 2030, it is projected that over 80 million people in the U.S. will have at least three chronic diseases. (CDC)
A New Direction for Preventive Care
While traditional preventive care — such as wellness checkups, vaccinations, and cancer screenings — remains essential, there is a growing recognition that we need to take a more holistic approach.
This new direction emphasizes motivating local communities to adopt preventive health measures. It’s especially important to marginalized communities who face more barriers to both accessing and learning about recommended preventive care.
Systemic Inequalities
In Dr. Amanda Calhoun’s piece Medical Education Must Start Teaching About Racism, she notes:
“When someone mentions preventive medicine, I immediately think about preventing childhood trauma—the trauma of racism and anti-Blackness
The trauma of racism is not inflicted by one person but is imposed by an entire system. It is a trauma that is often explained away or hidden, despite beginning at a terrifyingly young age”
Populations that face health disparities include racial and ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, underserved rural communities, and sexual and gender minorities. These groups often experience poorer health outcomes due to systemic inequalities that limit their access to comprehensive healthcare, including essential preventive services. Recognizing these disparities is crucial for addressing the broader challenges in our healthcare system and ensuring equitable care for all. (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
And systemic inequality is a vicious circle: it creates medical mistrust among minorities, leading to even more systemic inequalities. In a qualitative study exploring barriers to research participation in African American adults, “Mistrust was an important barrier expressed across all groups regardless of prior research participation or socioeconomic status.” (NIH)
Social determinants of health are also key to Mental Health, meaning that systemic inequalities, whether race, gender, or class-based, have a negative impact on the mental health of those experiencing them. Dr. Kali does a great job explaining the various factors that go into preventing suicide, for instance, remind us that it’s about more than just access to mental health treatment:
@drkalimd Suicide prevention is so much more than access to mental health treatment. #drkalimd #mentalhealth #politics #prevention
Preventive Care for Marginalized Communities
Preventive medicine must be practiced on a vast scale and at the community level — both of which we need for impactful change.
At the center of improving preventive medicine is a need to advocate for marginalized communities who have reduced voices in policy, those with less capacity from disease or age, and children. (YJBM)
Healthcare industry movers and policy can lead to sweeping change, but we can all advocate at a local level.
How To Be Part of The Solution
As healthcare providers, health & wellness brands, and individuals — how can we be a part of the solution when it comes to preventive health care?
Start with your community. As a healthcare brand, for instance, rely on local initiatives to educate on prevention from various angles. Narrow down the preventive focus to something that makes sense to your brand and your audience.
Let’s say you have a fitness app that has many users concerned with mitigating heart disease. You could partner with dietitians to create exclusive content with easy, heart healthy recipes. You could even incorporate a social feature that connects users to others with similar goals in their community.
Making large-scale changes is difficult for providers and brands, especially smaller ones. But we can all look at our neighbor and start there.
Conclusion
In the grand scheme of healthcare, preventive medicine stands as our strongest ally against the rising tide of chronic diseases and health disparities. Yet, as we’ve seen, its uptake is declining at an alarming rate, leaving millions vulnerable to conditions that could be managed or even avoided with early intervention.
The path forward demands a collective effort—from healthcare providers and wellness brands to individuals and communities. By prioritizing preventive care, addressing systemic inequalities, and empowering local communities with education and resources, we can create a healthier, more equitable future. Prevention isn’t just a personal responsibility; it’s a shared commitment to the well-being of all.
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