Rémi Salomon still can’t believe it. Candy dispensers may have been banned from schools and colleges in 2004 to combat obesity and overweight, but they are still present in children's hospital departments twenty years later. “It’s the height of it all, an anomaly, a paradox… In short, there’s something wrong!” » comments the head of the pediatrics department at Necker (AP-HP). An illustration of the fact that “prevention remains the poor relation of health policy”, as epidemiologist Antoine Flahault laments, who has just published a novel on this subject entitled “Prevenez-moi!” » (Robert Laffont editions).
Prevention is a bit of a catch-all word. To define it, “we can say that it brings together all the measures to take to prevent an illness from occurring,” says Rémi Salomon. “The best definition to provide is the reduction of health risks… knowing that zero risk does not exist! » adds Antoine Flahault. The public health specialist lists “four main determinants: tobacco, alcohol, physical activity and diet”.
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