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. A row of international flags flying in the breeze outside a building in Paris on a sunny day

    The government is about to host a ‘Global Partnership Conference’ – should it even bother?

    Tomorrow, the government is hosting the Global Partnership Conference in East London.
  2. A 'To Let' sign outside a row of houses on a residential street, UK

    High housing costs in the private rental sector: The case for action

    45 per cent of all private renters in the UK have unaffordable rents. It's time for the government to act to limit rent increases.
  3. A row of international flags flying in the breeze outside a building in Paris on a sunny day

    Diversifying diplomacy: UK strategy in a fragmenting world

    How the UK might build more durable international partnerships in energy, defence and technology.