Final answer:
Favorable conditions for population screening of a disease include a high prevalence, the availability of effective treatment, and a sensitive screening test.
Step-by-step explanation:
The condition favorable to population screening for pre-symptomatic diagnosis of a given disease include:
- A relatively high prevalence of the disease
- Availability of effective treatment
- A screening test with a high degree of sensitivity
- Availability of physicians to perform the screening test procedure
Each of these elements is critical to ensure that population screening programs are both efficient and beneficial. When a disease has a high prevalence, screening the population is more likely to identify individuals at an early stage when treatment could be more effective. Moreover, having a screening test that is highly sensitive will correctly identify a high number of individuals who have the disease but do not yet show symptoms. Effective treatment must be available so that individuals identified through screening can potentially benefit from early intervention. While it is important to have an adequate number of physicians available to perform the screening, without the prior three elements, screening might not be justified regardless of physician availability.