In health care, which statement best describes prevention?

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Prevention in health care aims to stop illness before it starts or catch it early, and it is often more cost-effective than treating disease because actions taken now can avert expensive medical care later. Investing in vaccination, routine screenings, and healthy lifestyle counseling reduces the number of people who develop illness or who progress to more costly, complicated stages. When diseases are prevented or caught early, there are fewer hospitalizations, less intensive treatments, and less long-term disability, all of which lowers overall health care costs and preserves productivity and quality of life.

This is why prevention is emphasized across populations: it isn’t optional for most groups, it isn’t limited to infectious diseases, and it isn’t something only done after illness has developed. Prevention integrates actions taken before disease or at its earliest stages to avoid the high costs and burdens of later treatment.