Prevention vs. Treatment - An eternal debate? | Global Health

Prevention vs. Treatment - An eternal debate?

Published January 29, 2009 @ 12:32PM PT

One of my favorite things about working in Global Health is that situations are rarely binary. You almost never have a choice between two options. Instead, you have a range of choices and a range of possible solutions. You don't have two sides to every story; you have 14. Good decisions are about balance, and looking for long-term systemic solutions instead of the quick fix.

In this context, what do we think about the prevention versus treatment debate that goes on about so many illnesses? Cancer and HIV/AIDS are the primary examples, but they are not the only ones. Fighting malaria requires decision-making about bednets versus treatment. Problems like heart disease and addiction also necessitate discussions of prevention and treatment.

I don't think, though, that setting up prevention and treatment in opposition to each other is a useful way to look at the issues. They go together, as an approach to fighting a disease. They combine into a response, along with other things like reducing social stigma and enhancing quality of life for those affected.

The real question to consider is, when designing your response, how much of each component do you use?

The post was written in response to Christine Gorman's Global Health Blogging Experiment.

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Comments (3)

I don’t think anyone intentionally sets up prevention and treatment in opposition against each other. More often than not, limited resources force governments and other groups to make this choice. Some countries have to choose whether to invest in bed nets or ACTs in the fight against malaria – they simply cannot afford both.

Posted by Lucy Yeatman on 01/30/2009 @ 10:19AM PT
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Of course if both can be afforded, then the best solution is a balance between the two. However, I personally feel there should be an emphasis on prevention in most cases, for example HIV/AIDS. Unless they find a way to completely cure it, all treatment is doing is making them live longer (which is great, don't get me wrong). However, those people are still passing the virus along to other people, which is what we should be stopping. If we could effectively prevent it, eventually it would go away (theoretically). (Wow, looking back, that post was terribly inarticulate. Oh well. I'm at work and it's been a long day, and probably no one will read this anyway. :P )

Posted by Lianne Lavoie on 03/16/2009 @ 12:34PM PT
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I see what you're saying, but treatment does reduce the infectiousness of HIV, which is something we need to take into account.

Posted by Alanna Shaikh on 03/16/2009 @ 09:11PM PT
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Author

Alanna Shaikh has spent the last ten years immersed in global health; she has worked for NGOs, companies, universities, and the US government on projects that ranged from preventing antibacterial resistance to improving maternal and child health.