Chiropractors should be pleased to learn that President Obama agrees with our desire to promote wellness rather than disease management or sick care. The President's Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010, created the National Prevention Council and calls for the development of The National Prevention Strategy to realize the benefits of prevention for all Americans' health.
According to Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin, MD, The National Prevention Strategy will move us from a system of sick care to one based on wellness and prevention. It builds upon the state-of-the-art clinical services we have in this country and the remarkable progress that has been made toward understanding how to improve the health of individuals, families, and communities through prevention. She claims the council knows preventing disease before it starts is critical to helping people live longer, healthier lives and keeping health care costs down. Poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and alcohol misuse are just some of the challenges addressed with The National Prevention Strategy.
Chiropractors interested in learning more about The National Prevention Strategy, America's Plan for Better Health and Wellness should read the document. It identifies four Strategic Directions and seven targeted Priorities. The Strategic Directions provide a strong foundation for all of our nation's prevention efforts and include core recommendations necessary to build a prevention-oriented society.
Directions and Priorities
The four Strategic Directions address community environments and quality of life issues:
- Healthy and Safe Community Environments: Create, sustain, and recognize communities that promote health and wellness through prevention.
- Clinical and Community Preventive Services: Ensure that prevention-focused health care and community prevention efforts are available, integrated, and mutually reinforcing.
- Empowered People: Support people in making healthy choices.
- Elimination of Health Disparities: Eliminate disparities, improving the quality of life for all Americans.
The Priorities provide evidence-based recommendations that are most likely to reduce the burden of the leading causes of preventable death and major illness. The seven Priorities are:
I. Tobacco Free Living
Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States. Living tobacco free reduces a person's risk of developing heart disease, various cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, periodontal disease, asthma and other diseases, and of dying prematurely.Tobacco free living means avoiding use of all types of tobacco products—such as cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, pipes and hookahs—and also living free from secondhand smoke exposure. Recommendations include:
- Support comprehensive tobacco free control policies.
- Support full implementation of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
- Expand use of tobacco cessation services.
- Use media to educate and encourage people to live tobacco free.
II. Preventing Drug Abuse and Excessive Alcohol Use
Preventing drug abuse and excessive alcohol use increases people's chances of living long, healthy, and productive lives. Excessive alcohol use includes binge drinking (i.e., five or more drinks during a single occasion for men, four or more drinks during a single occasion for women), underage drinking, drinking while pregnant, and alcohol impaired driving. Drug abuse includes any inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals (both prescription and over-the counter drugs) and any use of illicit drugs.
Preventing drug abuse and excessive alcohol use improves quality of life, academic performance, workplace productivity, and military preparedness; reduces crime and criminal justice expenses; reduces motor vehicle crashes and fatalities; and lowers health care costs for acute and chronic conditions. Recommendations include:
- Support state, tribal, local, and territorial implementation and enforcement of alcohol control policies.
- Create environments that empower young people not to drink or use other drugs.
- Identify alcohol and other drug abuse disorders early and provide brief intervention, referral and treatment.
- Reduce inappropriate access to and use of prescription drugs.
III. Healthy Eating
Eating healthy can help reduce people's risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, and several types of cancer, as well as help them maintain a healthy body weight. As described in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, eating healthy means consuming a variety of nutritious foods and beverages, especially vegetables, fruits, low and fat-free dairy products, and whole grains; limiting intake of saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium; keeping trans fat intake as low as possible; and balancing caloric intake with calories, burned to manage body weight. Safe eating means ensuring that food is free from harmful contaminants, such as bacteria and viruses. Recommendations include:
- Increase access to healthy and affordable foods in communities.
- Implement organizational and programmatic nutrition standards and policies.
- Improve nutritional quality of the food supply.
- Help people recognize and make healthy food and beverage choices.
- Support policies and programs that promote breastfeeding.