The life expectancies for both men and women are much longer than those a century ago due to an interplay of complex factors like diet, education, social environment, public hygiene and medical advances. Looking at the aspects of medical advances, preventive medicine has played a significant role in enhancing the life expectancy of the population, arguably more so than the curative counterpart.

Disease prevention can be achieved by reduction of the risk of contracting the disease or any undesired body state. Primary care doctors are well placed to implement preventive strategies, as an average patient would be seeing a primary care doctor approximately four to five times each year.

However, barriers do exist that may impede the delivery of health promotion and disease prevention. The educational level of the individual patient can influence the interaction between him/her and the health educator. Problems with reading or writing could also affect the interflow and exchange of information. Sometimes, language problems could be the major obstacle in preventive activities. Social situations like the prevailing unemployment or employment status would also have a bearing on the progress of health education in the population. Those who are chronically unemployed would likely to be less enthusiastic in responding to preventive activities. Also, those who have to do several jobs in order to make ends meet may not have time for anything.

In a busy society like Hong Kong, time or the lack of it, seems to be the most difficult barrier to overcome from both the patient's and the doctor's point of view. Having said that, over 80% of the population would visit a family doctor at least once a year. In addition, the family doctor would have a good knowledge of the patient's personal and family history through the provision of continuing care, he/she should be in an ideal position to act proactively as a coordinator or provider of preventive health services to the patient. This concept of providing health promotion service during the consultation is well illustrated by the Stott and Davis model of consultation potentials.

It has been shown that patient education delivered by family doctors could have significant effect on patients' attitudes towards a healthier lifestyle. However, the progress made by the patients would need to be supported by continuing reinforcement by the doctors to maintain the positive effects. Areas that have been shown to have successful outcomes include dietary modification, smoking cessation, healthy exercise, vaccinations and reduction of alcohol, just to name a few. Now that the influenza season is approaching, vaccination for the high risk groups would be one of the priorities.

Opportunities for disease prevention and health promotion are in front of us everyday. As frontline health care providers, we should strive to make use of each and everyone of these opportunities to improve the health of our community.