Which of the following is an upstream intervention?

• A. Increasing taxes on tobacco products
• B. Establishing a healthy food bank
• C. Education about handwashing
• D. Providing individual medical treatment

Answer: (A)

Upstream interventions change the broader context that creates health risks, using policy, economic, or environmental shifts to prevent problems before they occur. Increasing taxes on tobacco products fits this idea because it uses a policy lever to reduce tobacco use across the population by making it more costly, which lowers the incidence of tobacco-related diseases over time. The other options operate more at the individual or service level: a healthy food bank provides resources to people, which helps in the moment but doesn’t shift the policy environment; education about handwashing teaches a personal behavior; and providing medical treatment addresses illness after it happens. So the tobacco tax exemplifies changing the system to prevent disease on a population level.