Teaser: The current fashion is for targeting interventions towards those at higher risk. But this is often at the expense of interventions that are targeted at a whole population. Which is best? The population strategy of prevention refers to prevention activities that target a whole population regardless of variation in individuals' risk status, whereas a high-risk strategy targets individuals identified as having elevated risk for some adverse health outcome (e.g. thorough screening). In this classic book by Geoffrey Rose, the pros and cons of each approach are discussed.