Provide an example of secondary prevention in a community health program.

• A. Screening tests (e.g., mammography) to detect disease early.
• B. Vaccination campaigns to prevent disease.
• C. Handwashing promotion for infection control.
• D. Quarantine during an outbreak.

Answer: (B)

Secondary prevention aims to intercept disease after risk has been identified, with the goal of catching illness early or preventing its progression and complications. In a community health program, a vaccination campaign can be seen as a secondary step when it’s deployed to protect people who have already been exposed or who are at high risk during an outbreak, thereby interrupting transmission and preventing illness in those individuals. This use—targeting a group at risk to stop further cases and severe outcomes—aligns with the intent of secondary prevention in this context.

The other approaches illustrate prevention applied before disease occurs or to limit spread through behavior and isolation: screening tests are a classic secondary-prevention activity because they aim to detect disease early; vaccination is commonly thought of as primary prevention since it prevents disease from occurring in the first place; promoting handwashing reduces risk before infection; and quarantine during an outbreak prevents exposure more broadly. In the framing of this question, the vaccination campaign is presented as the action that prevents disease in the exposed or at-risk population, matching the secondary-prevention objective.