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We welcome the Government’s commitment that prevention and early intervention will be a strong feature of the Major Conditions Strategy. For too long, prevention has been overshadowed by clinical treatment. Rather than waiting for people to become ill, we all agree that the best approach is to support people to make healthy choices, so they do not need health and care services and to intervene as early as possible to identify and mitigate risk factors. This calls for a significant shift in focus from treatment to primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Local government has a key role to play in all three levels of prevention.
Primary prevention
Through its public health teams and wider plans and strategies, local government has a leading role in taking action to reduce the incidence of disease and health problems, either through universal measures that reduce lifestyle risks and their causes or by targeting high-risk population groups. Below we have included just a small sample of case studies from local government on their action on primary prevention, including addressing the causes of chronic respiratory diseases, weight management, promoting physical activity and support smoking cessation. The LGA website contains numerous local case studies of initiative to help people maintain a healthy weight, promote physical activity, support smoking cessation and support people with drug and alcohol problems. Read more case studies.
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