Which best describes secondary prevention?

• A. Health promotion and specific protection
• B. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment
• C. Rehabilitation
• D. Vaccination

Answer: (B)

Secondary prevention focuses on detecting disease early and intervening promptly to prevent progression and complications. The key idea is to catch a problem at a stage where treatment can change the outcome, often before symptoms become severe. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment embody this, because identifying a disease while it’s still early or even pre-symptomatic and then treating quickly can stop it from worsening and reduce future harm.

Other approaches aim to prevent the disease from occurring in the first place (health promotion, protection, and vaccination) or to manage established disease to reduce disability and complications after it has caused damage (rehabilitation). Therefore, identifying and treating a disease early aligns most closely with secondary prevention.