[EQ] Screening for disease - considerations for policy

New Page 1Screening for disease  considerations for policy

Walter Holland, Emeritus Professor of Public Health at LSE Health & Social
Care, The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Euro Observer health policy bulletin  October 2006

Available online as PDF file [8p.] at:
http://www.euro.who.int/Document/Obs/EuroObserver8_3.pdf

.It is a very attractive proposition to be able to identify
characteristics in an individual that suggest the presence of a condition
(that may lead to the later development of disease) at a time that the
condition is reversible and amenable to treatment.

The practice of screening in health care  that is, actively seeking to
identify a disease or predisease condition in people who are presumed and
presume themselves to be healthy  is one that has grown rapidly in recent
years and now has wide acceptance in our societies. Originally, screening
was introduced as a public health measure to detect conditions such as
tuberculosis which might be a health hazard to the community. Since then
demand for screening has greatly increased. It is now considered applicable
to the prevention of disease and is considered to be a logical extension of
medical practice. However, it has become apparent that there are also
disadvantages, and as with all medical procedures, certain principles have
to be satisfied before screening programmes are started.

 It is important to distinguish between population screening, where people
thought to be at risk are invited for screening, as in the national
programmes for cancer of the breast and cervix, and opportunistic screening,
for prevention or case-finding where individuals have sought medical advice
for a specific symptom or complaint and opportunity is taken to suggest
various other tests, such as the measurement of blood pressure or
cholesterol.

Content:

Screening for Tuberculosis

Screening for Chlamydia

Screening for Prostate cancer

Cervical cancer screening

Antenatal and neonatal screening

The Observatory is a partnership between the WHO Regional Office for Europe,
the Governments of Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden, the
Veneto Region of Italy, the European Investment Bank, the Open Society
Institute, the World Bank, CRP-Santi Luxembourg, the London School of
Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

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Received on Thu Oct 19 10:13:54 2006