ABSTRACT
The practice of screening in healthcare – that is, actively seeking to identify a disease or pre-disease condition in people who are presumed and presume themselves to be healthy – is one that grew rapidly during the twentieth century and has wide acceptance in our society. This chapter focuses on the historical background to screening, including the establishment of the National Screening Committee, restate acceptable definitions of the process, and revisit the criteria that must be fulfilled before screening is introduced. The benefits of screening were demonstrated by the use of mass miniature radiography (MMR) for the identification of individuals with tuberculosis. With the introduction of effective treatment for this condition after the end of the Second World War, the use of MMR became widespread in many western countries, particularly the USA and the UK. With the reduction in the burden of tuberculosis, the concept of screening began to be considered equally applicable to the control of other chronic diseases.
