One may think that “prevention is better than cure” is a quote from the goddess Hygiene, yet the vintage is recent and the wisdom is more limited than it appears.
What is “better?” Vaccination against whooping cough has its dangers, but these are negligible in comparison with whooping cough itself. As whooping cough does not give pleasure to anyone, it is reasonable to say that the prevention of whooping cough is “better” than whooping cough. But is the prevention of atherosclerosis by the combination of dietary measures, exercise, and avoidance of smoking “better” than the risk of myocardial infarction or obliterative arterial disease? And if incisive changes in lifestyle are proposed, would not the prohibition of horse riding, parachuting, mountain climbing, and skiing be “better” than the risks associated with these pastimes?
Tobacco, alcohol, drugs, coffee, chocolate, sugar, salt, red meat, raw fish, oysters, dairy products, smoked food, and food cooked in aluminium pots have been shown to constitute risks, as do walking in forests, living with mites, bats, dogs, cats, reptiles, or birds, or riding a motorcycle, sunbathing, or touching other people's genitals without gloves. One is told to move one's bowels regularly and inspect stools, monitor blood pressure, breasts, testicles, cholesterol... What is the fate of a person who lives by these rules? Such a person will die a non-preventable death, as opposed to all those who die a “premature death,” because they did not follow the doctor's advice. Could it be that people who die a “non-preventable death” die later than those who, foolishly, die from preventable causes? Or could it be that healthy people are more injury prone because, in their exuberance, they are likely to indulge in dangerous activities? Do healthy people have a better life? True, a healthier society is more productive in terms of material wealth.
But is there an observable link between health and creativity? Great art has always been associated with suffering. The putative elimination of disability, of pain, and of anguish and the fear of death may well impoverish human experience. The two outstanding healthist societies of history, Sparta and Hitler's Germany, were philistine. There is no evidence that a healthier society generates more thought, more beauty.