Vaccination: a practice worth promoting.

In recent years, individualized and medically supervised prevention has received relatively little attention from health policy makers. Yet it encompasses important activities carried out daily in clinical practice, primarily by general practitioners: vaccinations, screenings, health and dietary advice, etc. Healthcare expenditures related to these practices account for two-thirds of the budgets allocated to prevention in France (for an estimated total of 10 billion euros annually; that is, 7% of healthcare spending). The remaining third corresponds to more visible activities such as preventive medicine and screening (occupational medicine, school health, etc.), major public health programs (alcohol, tobacco, accidents, etc.), and various other initiatives such as occupational risk prevention or health surveillance. This situation could be explained by the emphasis on a collective approach that better aligns with the definition of public health. In this context, vaccination has become a routine practice, as the major diseases targeted by this prevention have gradually faded from collective memory. Furthermore, the “crisis” surrounding hepatitis B has caused confusion among the general public and healthcare professionals regarding recommendations on the matter. It is therefore particularly interesting to track the evolution of French people’s opinions, attitudes, and behaviors in this area of intervention, which is essential to public health.[chapter excerpt]

Author(s): Baudier François, LEON Christophe

Publishing year: 2006

Pages: 85-92

Collection: Health Barometers

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