Preventive Care to Improve Health Outcomes

Caleb Ihuarulam

Caleb Ihuarulam

Preventive care is a measure taken for the purposes of disease prevention, health promotion, and prolongation of life. It includes actions to improve health by changing the impact of social and economic determinants.  

This also includes the provision of information on behavioral and medical health risks, alongside consultation and measures to decrease them at the personal and community level; nutritional and food supplementation; oral and dental hygiene education; and clinical preventive services such as immunization and vaccination of children, adults and the elderly, as well as vaccination or post-exposure prophylaxis for people exposed to communicable diseases. 

Despite how important preventive care is, many people still don’t take it very seriously.  

Preventive care helps people deal with illnesses before visible signs that can make them incapacitated show. There are many things in our environment that can make people sick. Preventive care takes actions to identify these factors and takes measures to stop them from becoming full-blown problems.   

Why is preventive care important?  

  • Prevention is always better than cure, it helps you to live a healthier life. By maintaining proper health, people can find themselves living longer, healthier and happier lives. 
  • Some illnesses have no symptoms and are referred to as silent killers. With preventive care, early detection and treatment of illnesses are possible.  
  • It reduces the huge medical costs in the future when an illness becomes full-blown. 
  • It ensures you maintain high levels of efficiency in your work, career, or business. If you fall ill during a critical point in your career, catching up might take you a lot more time.  

Below are types of preventive healthcare

Primary Preventive Care: Primary preventive care occurs when measures are taken to prevent an illness from occurring. Measures like taking vaccines and dietary and habitual/behavioral changes to prevent certain disease conditions from occurring are all examples of primary preventive care.  

Secondary Preventive Care: Secondary preventive care involves body screening to identify early signs of disease conditions. People are constantly exposed to risk factors that can lead to disease. Screening for these illnesses from time to time can help them take appropriate action and start early treatment if they discover they have developed that illness. This is usually done before the signs and symptoms begin to appear.  

Tertiary Preventive Care: All efforts to manage a disease after diagnosis are referred to as tertiary preventive care. The goal is either to slow down the progression of a disease or to stop it entirely. Some measures used in tertiary preventive care include chemotherapy, rehabilitation, routine drug prescription, and screening to monitor for complications.  

Preventive care in Age groups  

All age groups need this type of care. Children need this care to track their overall development, prevent diseases and promote health. Caregivers should schedule appointments for them.  

For older people, this care can prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, amongst many other illnesses. As people get older or move from one age bracket to another, the care measures and screening they should take might change.  

It is important to remain in constant contact with your healthcare providers so that they can counsel you on the right type of screening for you.  

Where does my health plan come in? 

Reliance Health is focused on preventive care for all people of all ages; hence our comprehensive health plans allow you to schedule your care screening. You can get access to services like simply talking to a doctor to recommend lifestyle changes you can adopt as you get older.  Your healthcare plan also covers the cost of regular or mandatory vaccines to prepare your immune system for any illness.  

If you already have a healthcare plan for Reliance Health, you can always check your mobile app to see all the preventive screenings you qualify for. If you do not have a plan and want one, please visit https://reliancehmo.com/#getstarted 

Many people do not think they need to visit the hospital if they are not sick. Nothing could be further from the truth. That single visit, consultation, or vaccine could prevent you from a lifetime of pain or bearing high healthcare costs that can wipe out your savings.  

It is also important to continuously remind people that this type of care is key to a long and healthy life. Taking charge of one’s health as early as possible is important to the overall quality of life.   

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Caleb Ihuarulam

Caleb Ihuarulam

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