Prevention in the age of information: Public education for better health

Article

Tackling preventative illness must remain a top priority for the government in the 2020s. Over half of the disease burden in England is deemed preventable, with one in five deaths attributed to causes that could have been avoided. After many years of improvement, progress has stalled on reducing the number of people suffering from preventable illness. Moreover, compared to other high-income countries, we underperform on this metric.

This is not good enough, as the government has recognised in its prevention green paper and the NHS Long Term Plan. The government must deliver a paradigm shift in prevention policy from interventions that ‘blame and punish’ to those that ‘empathise and assist’. The aim of prevention policy is to drive behaviour change: to help people make better health decisions.

Any new prevention strategy must take into account the new information environment that has resulted from technological advancement. The internet is increasingly the first point of call for people searching for information or advice about their health.

Related items

  1. “I feel quite unsettled and unsafe”: Young people, belonging, and the broken promise of childhood

    Young people in England feel less secure, supported and connected than a decade ago. Based on nearly 200 conversations, this blog explores why childhood feels more stressful and less joyful.
  2. A photograph from below of the grand Manchester town hall building on a sunny day against a blue sky

    On home ground: The future of devolution

    Andy Burnham has pledged to deliver “the biggest rebalancing of power the country has ever seen”. The key task for the new government is putting this into action.
  3. A photo of police officer and a community support officer walking down a quiet street in Kent

    The legitimacy trap

    Why a more active state needs better statecraft.