Disease prevention is defined as

• A. Taking steps to avoid illness and agents of illness
• B. Treating illness after onset
• C. Providing palliative care
• D. Curing diseases

Answer: (A)

Preventing disease means taking steps to avoid illness and the agents that cause it. It’s about stopping disease before it starts, often called primary prevention. It includes actions like vaccination to prevent infection, practicing good hand hygiene, safe food and water handling, sanitation, vector control, and health education to encourage healthy behaviors. These measures reduce exposure or strengthen defenses so disease never develops. By contrast, treating illness after it begins addresses managing current disease; providing palliative care focuses on comfort rather than preventing disease; and curing diseases implies removing disease after it has occurred, which is not prevention. Therefore, the best definition is taking steps to avoid illness and its causes.