Preventive health care

Early detection, to detect something in its early stages, provides an opportunity to make a difference. Early detection in itself however is not enough. There has to be a strategy for how to act and prevent further damage and maybe also to cure. Early detection of anaemia through haemoglobin measurements or chronic kidney disease through detection of albuminuria can be made at the point-of-care, and actions to take on the results are well-known and possible to implement. Early detection and prevention is, whenever possible, better to do than late stage treatments and may also provide a cost-effective approach in patient centred care in primary care.