PREVENTION RESEARCH AT THE NATIONAL-INSTITUTES-OF-HEALTH

Prevention of disease and disability and preservation of health are co mpelling strategies that are endorsed by the public, health care provi ders, and researchers. Despite this general acceptance of the concept, the ''devil is in the details.'' What can and should be recommended w ith confidence to the public and health care providers regarding preve ntion and how can these recommendations be implemented? Prevention pro grams should be based on durable evidence of efficacy and should assur e that the benefits of interventions and changes exceed the risks. The latter is particularly important for population-based primary prevent ion because many are influenced but fever may benefit. Prevention rese arch must provide the evidence of benefit and risk. The responsibility of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to develop the scientif ic basis for prevention and to train prevention scientists who are res ponsible for creating this science base. The interpretation and dissem ination of information from research studies are important and necessa ry aspects to assure translation of the science into personal and publ ic health practices. The components of prevention research are investi gation of the factors that place individuals and groups at risk of dis ease and disability; trials of the interventions that can modify this risk; and testing the approaches that can effectively implement benefi cial changes. NIH is committed to addressing these endeavors, and its individual Institutes and Centers support a broad portfolio of prevent ion research, This paper will provide an overview of NIH support, the functional relationships of prevention research within NIH,and backgro und information that can be useful to those interested in research.