Disease prevention
The UK’s integrated health system’s disease prevention strategy is led by national and local government agencies and engages with health providers, academia, Royal Colleges and digital health companies.
Our disease prevention capability includes:
- Immunisation and screening programmes
- Health checks
- Accessible diagnostic services backed by
- Extensive population data
- National guidelines and toolkits
- Health marketing campaigns
Which is leading to earlier risk assessments and diagnosis, resulting in better health outcomes.
Tackling health inequalities: given the influence of socio-economic factors on health, the UK is skilled in running programmes across the country to tackle inequalities in health, driven by population data and local community leadership.
Health Promotion
Our health promotion capability includes:
- national health campaigns backed by
- extensive population data
- national guidelines and toolkits and
- health marketing expertise
Which is leading to a reduced disease burden and better health outcomes.
Placed based projects are creating healthier cities, homes, schools and workplaces.
UK Expertise in Prevention
UK universities, government and commercial agencies, digital health, NGOs, major companies and education institutes are ready to help with
- The pathway to prevention
- Policy and structure: how the UK makes disease prevention happen
- Guidelines and toolkits: national how to guides
- Using data to tackle disease: population data driving prevention campaigns
- Prevention campaigns: national campaigns, health provider systems, digital health and marketing expertise
- Enablers: training for prevention leaders
- Results: showing evidence for effectiveness of prevention
Key Results
NHS prevention programmes make a difference:
- NHS screening programmes save around 10,000 lives a year through prevention and early diagnosis
- The NHS Health Check reduces the risk of ill health though early identification (e.g. heart attack by 15%, death by 23%)
- Mass media campaigns have demonstrated effectiveness for promoting tobacco control, physical activity and sexual health
- In 2023, over half a million more people in England were identified by the NHS as being at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in a year. These patients have access to the ground breaking Healthier You Diabetes Prevention Programme which reduces new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes. It cuts the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more than a third for people completing the programme
- For 13 of the most common cancers, such as breast, prostate and lung cancer, nearly three in five (58.7% of) patients are now being diagnosed at stages one or two with an ambition to identify 75% by 2028
- The new NHS Digital Weight Management Programme has seen participants lose nearly 4 kilograms after a 12 week programme.
Find out more
Contact us for more information about the UK’s Prevention programmes.