The Benefits of Primary Prevention

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What makes primary prevention so effective?

It's because early prevention efforts—like policies that increase access to good jobs and homes, and affordable, nutritious food, for example—improve the conditions in which people live, play, and grow. A primary prevention policy like increasing access to high-quality, affordable childcare can reduce caregiver stress. Reducing that stress is shown to lower rates of child abuse and neglect in families. Preventing traumatic childhood experiences can improve a person's physical and mental health over time. And that means we can create lasting change that spreads across our whole community and throughout people's lives. Just take a look...

Individuals

...at the heart of primary prevention efforts gain lifelong skills and opportunities for better health. Policies that offer families access to high-quality and affordable childcare help children develop the social and emotional skills for healthy relationships. It makes school graduation and a higher income more likely, too.

Their Relationships

...are healthier as well, because primary prevention efforts connect individuals and their loved ones with needed resources and support. When a community priortizes policies that make quality childcare accessible, families experience less violence and neglect, and they can focus on building a secure and nurturing home.

The Community

...gets stronger, because primary prevention efforts don't just help one person at a time. For example, when a community supports policies that improve access to quality childcare, the local economy grows. Schools prosper, new businesses can innovate, and communities can invest in creating healthier neighborhoods.

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Our Society

...benefits too, as its people and communities access resources and build resilience. Preventing harm before it happens—through strategies like investing in great childcare and surrounding kids with supportive educators—can encourage a shared responsibility for the health and well-being of all children.

What Surrounds Us Shapes Us

Look to Primary Prevention for Better Health

When we invest in primary prevention efforts that improve the conditions in which people live, work, and grow, we create lasting change that spreads across our whole community and throughout people's lives.

Working together, we can prevent health challenges rooted in trauma and adverse child experiences—like suicide, substance use, and overdose, and others—before the harm even happens. That's an outcome every public health professional can get behind. And with a little help, it's a strategy every public health organization can embrace.

Find out how ASTHO and public health agencies promote primary prevention to reduce adverse childhood experiences and build lifelong health.