Prevention is a pro-active range of strategies designed to create and maintain healthy lifestyles. The view of health is a holistic one, including physical, mental, spiritual and social health.
Prevention theory and practice have developed through evaluative research and reflect what is shown to work. To be effective, prevention needs to involve communities (including families, schools, churches) and its systems (e.g. political, police, media). The range of prevention strategies includes providing awareness (for example, media campaigns); information and education about achieving and/or maintaining health including personal and social consequences; a range of alternative healthy activities (e.g. sports, dance, art); and a context of health-promoting social policy. Together, these strategies create social norms in which individuals can develop to their full potential.

Most drug prevention programmes define primary prevention as preventing the onset of drug use before experimentation starts (essentially done at an early age, such as 4-5, and often not addressing drug issues straight away, instead discussing the body, care of it and other health issues). Secondary prevention is done with an older group, who may be experimenting with drug use or who may be at risk – a situation many children will now face. Its aim is to stop the progression of experimentation or more regular drug use. Drug use is not a “normal part of development” for young people. It is something that stunts development. Drug use has harmful effects on people, physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially. Using this model, the third component is treatment, when a person has a drug problem and wants to stop using. People in treatment also need a form of prevention, in this case, defined as relapse prevention, which involves a range of personal and social skills to avoid drug use.

Strategies:
The most effective prevention programmes cover a wide range of issues and skills. These include information on the body and health; decision making, problem solving and stress reduction; communication skills; friendship, peer pressure and how to resist it; alternatives to drug use; identity and self esteem; and drug information (including illegal and legal substances) – all delivered in a developmentally and ethnically appropriate manner. In programmes for children (at schools, youth groups, etc.), a child-centered approach that creates a forum for children to discuss their issues and concerns should be used. Other types of prevention programmes include parent and peer education, as well as training programmes for teachers, health and youth workers. Professional training is an effective and efficient way to increase the amount of prevention work in communities.