Primary prevention

The area is dedicated to primary prevention, which is that particular type of prevention focused on the adoption of healthy behaviors. Interventions in primary prevention are meant to avoid or reduce the occurrence and the development of a disease or an adverse event.

Scientific research has highlighted several risk factors of great importance for tumor occurrence. In effect a high proportion of neoplastic diseases can be prevented by changing lifestyle and reducing exposure to carcinogens.

Regional and national health policies promote since long several actions aimed at disease prevention, with special consideration for cancer. These actions reaffirm the need of identifying the most effective operational models for the spread of healthy lifestyles, in particular:

  • promoting primary prevention: health is the essential good for social, economic, and personal development; in this context, people play a fundamental role, as individuals they represent the main resource to focus on for achieving the goal of prevention;
  • improving the integration between health and prevention policies;
  • boosting strategies for the adoption of healthy lifestyles.

More specifically, with regard to cancer prevention, interventions based on improving awareness of major risk factors are recommended. Cancer screening are a suitable setting for promoting interventions on healthy lifestyles, as the following actions can be outlined:

  • promotion and development of multi-sectorial programs to tackle smoking; they can include prevention of smoking habits among young people, support towards policies to protect against passive smoking and support smoking cessation;
  • spreading of the concept of nutrition as prevention, given the responsibility of incorrect diets on cancer incidence in recent decades;
  • active promotion of non-sedentary habits;
  • control and promotion of safer and healthier workplaces.
     

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