Investments are defined as expenditures
of funds that produce results. Investment opportunities in health are everywhere.
When we expand investments in education, we invest in prevention. When we improve
the safety of our streets or build neighborhoods that encourage exercise and community
association, we invest in prevention. When we strengthen our public health infrastructure
to prevent food, water and airborne illnesses, to protect against health emergencies,
and to stop infectious disease outbreaks, we invest in prevention.
Key indicators of how Washington measures in the category of Investing in Prevention
include:
Insuring
for Prevention
Public
Health System Investment
Within the health sector, it may be impossible to determine the best balance between
prevention and cure. But we know that when health promotion, disease prevention,
early intervention and illness management receive greater shares of our investments,
we have a better chance of implementing proven strategies to reduce illness and
avoid injury. We know too, that so long as systemic investments in preventive health
interventions are tied to performance—whether to reduce food borne health
threats or to increase the number of cancer screenings—they will greatly increase
the likelihood that such services will be used.
WHF has chosen the above two measures to judge investments in prevention within
our state's health sector. Both are oriented toward the improvement of systems to
prevent health risks, identify illnesses early and enable effective treatment or
containment. Both are performance standards. They speak to the degree to which systems
produce the tools people need to stay healthy, learn of health problems early and
obtain needed treatment.
View
the "Investing in Prevention" Section of WHF's 2006 Report Card
on Washington's Health.
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