NATIONAL PREVENTION EFFORT

National Prevention Effort

National Prevention Effort

For more than a century, the public health approach to prevention has enhanced the quality of life for millions of Americans.  For example, vaccines, improved sanitation, and pure drinking water now regularly prevent many contagious and often lethal diseases.  Today, the power of prevention is being used to help prevent, delay, and/or reduce disability from chronic disease and illness, including substance abuse and mental illnesses, which take a toll on health, education, workplace productivity, community involvement, and overall quality of life.

That is why President Bush has called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to realize his vision of a Healthier US, in which its citizens use the power of prevention to help them live longer, healthier lives.  HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson noted that:

Approximately 95 percent of the $1.4 trillion we spend on health goes to direct medical care services.  An estimated 4 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health.  This approach is equivalent to waiting for your car to break down before taking it in for maintenance.  By changing the way we view our health, we can move from a disease care system to a true health care system.

Over the last 20 years, prevention science has produced an increasing number of evidence-based programs and practices that prevent substance abuse and mental health problems; promote mental health and prevent related problems in a community by reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors.  Yet what is known by researchers often is not translated into what is done by individuals and communities or by State and Federal agencies.  The result is an unhealthy United States with catastrophic health care costs, lost education and employment, and lost lives.  Separate funding silos and the absence of a common strategic prevention framework have hindered the kind of cross-program and cross-system approach that true health promotion and disease prevention demand.

To improve the rate at which prevention science is used by State agencies and local communities, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is implementing a new Strategic Prevention Framework based on the public health approach.  The Framework is grounded in the Agency's vision of a life in the community for everyone and in its mission to promote resilience and facilitate recovery.  SAMHSA's Administrator, Charles G. Curie, believes that, with focused and sustained leadership, States and communities can indeed prevent many mental health- and substance ...