[Ethical aspects in prevention. Prevention as a moral obligation]

The principle of avoiding or reducing unnecessary suffering belongs to the ethics of our culture. According to the concepts of the World Health Organization (WHO), this means an extension of preventive medicine to the realm of education and biopolitics. Education has priority, and it is recommended to adopt as a definition of health the same concept that has been suggested as the aim of education by the Swiss Scientific Council: namely an "ability of action" which encompasses man in his biological, intellectual, ethical and emotional aspects.