Prevention means eliminating or minimizing exposure to the causes of a disease, and includes reducing individual susceptibility to the efect of such causes. Approximately 40% of cancers are preventable through interventions such as tobacco control, environmental controls, promotion of healthy diets and physical activity. Prevention ofers the most cost-efective long-term strategy for the control of cancer. Prevention of cancer can be categorised into two - Primary prevention and secondary prevention.
These protocols recommend the following minimum timelines in order to minimize delays and improve outcomes:
- Primary prevention refers to a set of interventions that keeps a cancerous process from developing and includes health counselling, education and environmental controls.
- Secondary prevention is that set of interventions leading to the discovery and control of cancerous or precancerous lesions.