preventio

Preventio is a term used to describe the proactive mitigation of potential harm by anticipating future risks and applying measures before they manifest. The word derives from Latin preventio, from praevenire, meaning to come before or avert. In modern usage, preventio is treated as a broad framework for preventive action that prioritizes forethought and preemptive intervention over reactive responses.

In public health, preventio encompasses vaccination programs, screening, lifestyle interventions, and environmental and policy controls designed to reduce the incidence of disease and injury before they occur. In safety engineering and risk management, preventio involves hazard identification, risk assessment, and the installation of controls, redundancies, and contingency plans intended to prevent incidents or minimize consequences.

In law and ethics, preventio appears in discussions of precaution and duty of care, where foreseeing potential harms guides policy choices and standard-setting. In information technology and systems design, preventio can describe approaches such as secure-by-design practices, validation, and redundancy to prevent failures and data losses.

Limitations include that not all harms are foreseeable or preventable, and preventive measures can carry costs, unintended consequences, or introduce new risks. Effective preventio requires evidence, resources, and ongoing evaluation to adapt to changing conditions.

See also Prevention, Precaution, Risk management, Safety engineering.