Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Myths and Reality

Abstract

Mankind has been trying to grapple with the problem of preventing disease and promoting health since the growth of large populations. Many strategies have been tried. In theory there should be a cure for every ill. Consequently, we delved deeper and deeper into smaller and smaller microscopic systems to understand a problem and produce a magic bullet. Multi-complex issues are broken into bit sized pieces and tested on a scientific pedestal. Unitary cures are then prescribed. Sometimes it worked, but most of the time the magic bullet is a myth. That misguided enterprise clouded the real issues affecting health (and oral health), leading to a confusion of priorities. Developing countries become the real losers when they try to solve critical health situations in their countries using the reductionist approach. It is unfortunate that the more detailed we understand the submicroscopic processes, the less we understand and miss the big picture. Simple public health rules, strategies and policies become side issues not worthy of massive government resources and the scientific community's respect. Economic priorities often outweigh health considerations. Is it true that our population's future health depend solely on our understanding and ultimate destruction of those evil microbes and viruses? Can technology and more specialized doctors guarantee healthy populations in developing countries? Or are we condemned to destroy ourselves and our civilizations by neglecting the obvious? Should we "Blame everything else except ourselves"? Professor Nasruddin will discuss the evolution of preventive strategies, trace the several significant phases through history and illustrate how we seem to have come a full circle back to the basic holistic approach. Using the rise and fall of dental caries as a model, he will illustrate how non-traditional preventive strategies can be very effective and has been proven successful that it improved the caries status dramatically in the West within the last 20 years. However, unbridled health promotion strategies too can create its share of problems and dilemmas. Are we prepared to pay the price? Is prevention cheaper than cure? So what can we in Malaysia learn from the West's painful mistakes? If we are ever to learn from history, then we shouldn't reinvent the square wheel.