Preventing illness

sweet and cigarette wrappers discarded on grass

Health services are generally reactive - they try to fix things once they have gone wrong.  These pages explore an approach which emphasises keeping people well rather than waiting until they fall sick.

Prevention

Apple juice in glass bottles

Is preventing illness a personal responsibility or something that only huge social change can bring about?  How can our jobs and our communities affect our wellness?  We explore some of the issues.

Health training in Liverpool

Paul Clitheroe describes how health trainers are working across Merseyside to help people make better health choices.  His workers use some conventional approaches, but are not afraid to nobble someone in a pub or bingo hall.

Creating a national wellness service

As the NHS turns 60, David Boyle of the New Economics Foundation argues that to keep people well in the early 21st century the NHS needs to place far more emphasis on prevention. 

Preventing illness news