Torah perspective on preventative medicine

Abstract

Preventative medicine is an intervention that serves to prevent a disease from manifesting itself and causing illness to a person. Within preventative medicine there is primary prevention, which aims to remove any risk factors that may cause sickness, and secondary prevention, which focuses on screening for an existing condition early on in order to successfully remove and treat it. While preventative medicine differs from healing medicine since preventative medicine consists of interventions practiced prior to an individual becoming ill, there are similarities between these two methods. Both preventative medicine and healing medicine promote health and strive to maintain or restore one’s strength and well-being. Nevertheless, these two methods are separate in that preventative medicine follows the idea of intervening on one’s health despite the fact that there is no issue present. While the Torah emphasizes the significance of life and teaches the importance of healing the sick, one can ask what the Torah view is regarding preventative medicine interventions when there is no preceding illness to heal. This paper aims to explore the Torah’s perspective on preventative medicine as a whole, as well as focusing on multiple types of preventative medicine. In this paper, the forms of preventative medicine that are discussed include healthy eating, hand hygiene, smoking, screening, and vaccination. Within each of these subcategories, an explanation of the medical benefits will be expounded upon in addition to a Torah’s approach for each topic. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding into the topic and significance of preventative medicine and an insight into the Torah’s perspective and great value of promoting and maintaining one’s health.