Avicenna as the Forerunner of Preventive Medicine: On the Occasion of 1032nd Birth Anniversary of Avicenna (22 August 980)

Although the medical history of each country is closely related with that of other countries, Iranian medicine, along with the Greek and Arabic ones, provided a series of completing thoughts by virtue of “philosophy of history.” Always, the pioneers have attempted to transfer their thoughts and experiences to the next generation, and other people have attempted to add some issues and experiences to them, but without any doubt, all of the tribes, did not have the same share. Sometimes an important historical incident would bring a sudden change in the inner talents of nations; within the framework of this growth, they could advance in the field of global health and medicine for some time. The Islamic and Iranian thinking and belief along with the innate talent for innovation of this population advanced for several centuries. As a result, in the shadow of mixing cultures and civilization, dynamism and reality of acquiring science and knowledge, encouraging followers to conduct research about the phenomena of the world, mixing different cultures in the open lands, and existence of educational and research centers with record of Jondishapour, Horan, and Alexandria has created a situation wherein in the following centuries, a tree that was irrigated by mixing science and faith was grown; the enriched culture of ancient Iran, advanced history and culture of ancient Egypt and other Islamic nations were developed; and scientists like Rhazes, Ahvazi, Avicenna, and Jorjani were presented to the world. Avicenna is the writer of the third encyclopedia of traditional medicine called Canon of Medicine, and was the forerunner of Preventive Medicine. His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He was born near Bokhara in ancient Iran. He was a born prodigy and is said to have mastered Quran by the age of 10. Aristotle’s ideas intrigued him, and he also studied about commentators like al-Farabi. The entire gamut of human knowledge was within his purview: grammar, poetry, geometry, astronomy, anatomy, physiology, materia medica, and surgery. In fact, until the mid-17th century, the medical curriculum of the Christian universities, including those in the British Isles, was based on Avicenna’s writings. In the Canon of Medicine, Avicenna regarded the goal of medicine as keeping health and returning it while having disease; furthermore, he referred to the importance of sport health, environmental health, family health, housing health, and effect of different factors on human health, and has announced his society basis and his health orientation message in Public Health How to cite this article: Kelishadi R, Hatami H. Avicenna as the forerunner of preventive medicine: On the occasion of 1032nd birth anniversary of avicenna (22 August 980). Int J Prev Med 2012;3:517-9.