In the context of health i totally concur with this
old adage that "Prevention is not just better but
also cheaper than Cure”. It advises everyone to
care for themselves before it gets too late to save
lives. Health is a treasured asset present for
human life and its importance cannot be
overemphasized; with the great importance of
health, health education and preventative
measures need to be concern. In developing
countries like Nigeria, many people are suffering
from various types of health related problems
due to the lack of appropriate health education
and preventive actions. Many regimes spend
enormous amount of money on curative health
services to treat its people who are suffering
from different types of serious diseases. This
extravagance can be easily diminished when
state commences on healthcare educational
system by spending money to the health teaching
system as a form of preventive health service. As
an example, if the administration perceives to
their slums that smoking, drinking, illegal refuse
dumping, and so on.. is bad for human body and
the environment through educational programs,
many people will be not attacked by the severe
sickness. This could save a large amount of
money the state spends on curative services as it
can be clearly seen from the simple illustration
above that the idea may bring colossal economic
benefit to the government.
In the same vein; many governments fight
against several types of diseases such as diabetes,
cancer, heart diseases among others but before
these health problems assault the people, it can
be ceased by taking some preventive measure.
For example, exercise, sports, entertainment
among others can decrease the chances to
become these patients. Building parks,
playgrounds, and cinema halls can influence
people to do exercise, which can protect the
people from these intense sicknesses. This can be
achieved by investing the money in preventive
measures from health budget.
This idea is indispensable not only to the people
but also to the government. Therefore,
government should spend money for health
education and preventive measures from health
budget. I hereby conclude with the words of
Benjamin Franklin, who rightly said that ‘'An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure''
.