ave you ever thought about the data governments release to demonstrate effectiveness? Many of the numbers shared regularly tend to be economic, focused on GDP, unemployment rates, and inflation. But is that the true measure of success? Of course, a strong economy is critical, but healthy populations are vital to economic competitiveness. So, shouldn’t governments also be measured regularly on how healthy their people are?
According to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, 90% of the 191 countries examined failed to achieve a better, healthier, more secure life for their people in 2020 and 2021. In both developed and developing nations, current health systems are not adequately providing the infrastructure for their populations to thrive and contribute to their economic success. For instance, even in the United States, more than 45% of consumers experience at least one unmet basic healthcare need.
Only about three percent of healthcare expenditure across Europe and the United States is spent on preventative care—helping people proactively take care of their basic healthcare needs. If we shifted this imbalance towards well-care, helping people learn how to take care of themselves before they get sick, we’d likely see an upswing in the number of healthier people.
In order to meet these basic needs, behavioral change is needed—both on community and individual levels. There are three practical ways to drive collective change, prioritizing preventative care to build healthier, more prosperous communities to drive economic growth.
1. Expand where health happens to outside the doctor’s office.
Society needs to expand where health happens. It needs to happen in homes, pharmacies, grocery stores, and online—where patients actually are in their daily lives. There are a few ways this is already happening that can become more commonplace:
- In many communities, people have more access to the local store than a traditional healthcare provider. Services facilitated by a pharmacist or in-store healthcare provider can often be more affordable and offer 360 solutions—people can get healthcare provider-endorsed recommendations for how to take care of themselves, get prescriptions and shop for over-the-counter solutions all in one place.
- The expansion of digital health will also help foster enablement. The pandemic certainly encouraged telehealth, but in order to help create health ownership, this should be expanded to other health services.
- There’s also opportunity for the whole community to take control of their health. In many low-and-middle-income countries, governments are empowering community health workers to provide health education. These are non-professionals who are trained on important and community-relevant health topics—everything from heart health to constipation—and work directly with residents. Since community health workers typically live in the community they serve, they have the unique ability to bring information where it is needed most.
2. Educate policy makers so policy change follows.
Policymakers are bombarded with information and most of the research is in technical language. They don’t have the tools or time to review all of this information and understand the ramifications. Putting the data in relatable terms and having it delivered by a reliable and trusted source could be very helpful in making healthcare financing decisions—and hopefully improve the low level of spend against preventative care.
When it comes to policy development around preventative care, incentives should become a more important consideration. “What’s in it for me?” needs to be a key question asked and answered across audiences in order to drive behavioral change. A strong program will only realize its full potential if it answers the question: “how do we get people to invest today, what will only pay off tomorrow?” This can range from convincing healthcare providers to talk with their patients about disease prevention, individuals to prioritize their own health day-to-day, payers to revisit their structure to reward continued good health and including less traditional health advisors (i.e. nutritionists, nurses) into the fold who might be able to drive behavior change differently.
3. Empower people to take care of themselves.
This sounds basic, but education is an often-overlooked aspect of healthcare. Research shows eighty percent of non-communicable diseases could be prevented through healthy lifestyle behaviors. These are the basic practices everyone should be doing to lead a healthy lifestyle—but needs to be communicated in a highly personalized way to drive a change in behavior. With the democratization of digital tools and technological advancement, there’s improved opportunity to create tailored programs that can actually help people understand the personal benefit and what they need to do to improve or maintain their own health. Behavioral change is hard, so a customized approach is needed. These programs don’t need to be government-led to be successful—there’s a role for schools, healthcare providers, NGOs, and the private sector to create a surround sound approach.
Healthcare providers also play an important role given they are trusted advisors. Most of what is learned in medical school and through continued education is focused on managing disease. More focus—and incentivization—needs to be given towards empowering and teaching doctors how to advise their patients on disease prevention.
A New KPI: Healthy Communities
Building resilience is a key to prosperity and a pragmatic approach to prioritizing preventative healthcare should help enable this. The Self-Care Readiness Index, developed by the Global Self-Care Federation, shows there are many best practices around the world we can learn from to create healthier communities, in the areas of consumer empowerment, stakeholder enrollment, policy and regulation change. Good health enables adults to be productive at work and tends to lead to an increased long-term savings rate given longer lifespans and increased concerns about future financial needs. In turn, these healthier communities help fuel economies. People make the world go ‘round. Hopefully one day our metrics of success will illustrate this, too.
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There Is No Healthy Economy Without Healthy People
Photo via Adobe Stock.
January 18, 2023
In both developed and developing nations, health systems are not adequately providing the infrastructure for their populations to thrive and contribute to their economic success. To meet these basic needs, behavioral change is needed—both on community and individual levels writes Daniella Foster.
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ave you ever thought about the data governments release to demonstrate effectiveness? Many of the numbers shared regularly tend to be economic, focused on GDP, unemployment rates, and inflation. But is that the true measure of success? Of course, a strong economy is critical, but healthy populations are vital to economic competitiveness. So, shouldn’t governments also be measured regularly on how healthy their people are?
According to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, 90% of the 191 countries examined failed to achieve a better, healthier, more secure life for their people in 2020 and 2021. In both developed and developing nations, current health systems are not adequately providing the infrastructure for their populations to thrive and contribute to their economic success. For instance, even in the United States, more than 45% of consumers experience at least one unmet basic healthcare need.
Only about three percent of healthcare expenditure across Europe and the United States is spent on preventative care—helping people proactively take care of their basic healthcare needs. If we shifted this imbalance towards well-care, helping people learn how to take care of themselves before they get sick, we’d likely see an upswing in the number of healthier people.
In order to meet these basic needs, behavioral change is needed—both on community and individual levels. There are three practical ways to drive collective change, prioritizing preventative care to build healthier, more prosperous communities to drive economic growth.
1. Expand where health happens to outside the doctor’s office.
Society needs to expand where health happens. It needs to happen in homes, pharmacies, grocery stores, and online—where patients actually are in their daily lives. There are a few ways this is already happening that can become more commonplace:
- In many communities, people have more access to the local store than a traditional healthcare provider. Services facilitated by a pharmacist or in-store healthcare provider can often be more affordable and offer 360 solutions—people can get healthcare provider-endorsed recommendations for how to take care of themselves, get prescriptions and shop for over-the-counter solutions all in one place.
- The expansion of digital health will also help foster enablement. The pandemic certainly encouraged telehealth, but in order to help create health ownership, this should be expanded to other health services.
- There’s also opportunity for the whole community to take control of their health. In many low-and-middle-income countries, governments are empowering community health workers to provide health education. These are non-professionals who are trained on important and community-relevant health topics—everything from heart health to constipation—and work directly with residents. Since community health workers typically live in the community they serve, they have the unique ability to bring information where it is needed most.
2. Educate policy makers so policy change follows.
Policymakers are bombarded with information and most of the research is in technical language. They don’t have the tools or time to review all of this information and understand the ramifications. Putting the data in relatable terms and having it delivered by a reliable and trusted source could be very helpful in making healthcare financing decisions—and hopefully improve the low level of spend against preventative care.
When it comes to policy development around preventative care, incentives should become a more important consideration. “What’s in it for me?” needs to be a key question asked and answered across audiences in order to drive behavioral change. A strong program will only realize its full potential if it answers the question: “how do we get people to invest today, what will only pay off tomorrow?” This can range from convincing healthcare providers to talk with their patients about disease prevention, individuals to prioritize their own health day-to-day, payers to revisit their structure to reward continued good health and including less traditional health advisors (i.e. nutritionists, nurses) into the fold who might be able to drive behavior change differently.
3. Empower people to take care of themselves.
This sounds basic, but education is an often-overlooked aspect of healthcare. Research shows eighty percent of non-communicable diseases could be prevented through healthy lifestyle behaviors. These are the basic practices everyone should be doing to lead a healthy lifestyle—but needs to be communicated in a highly personalized way to drive a change in behavior. With the democratization of digital tools and technological advancement, there’s improved opportunity to create tailored programs that can actually help people understand the personal benefit and what they need to do to improve or maintain their own health. Behavioral change is hard, so a customized approach is needed. These programs don’t need to be government-led to be successful—there’s a role for schools, healthcare providers, NGOs, and the private sector to create a surround sound approach.
Healthcare providers also play an important role given they are trusted advisors. Most of what is learned in medical school and through continued education is focused on managing disease. More focus—and incentivization—needs to be given towards empowering and teaching doctors how to advise their patients on disease prevention.
A New KPI: Healthy Communities
Building resilience is a key to prosperity and a pragmatic approach to prioritizing preventative healthcare should help enable this. The Self-Care Readiness Index, developed by the Global Self-Care Federation, shows there are many best practices around the world we can learn from to create healthier communities, in the areas of consumer empowerment, stakeholder enrollment, policy and regulation change. Good health enables adults to be productive at work and tends to lead to an increased long-term savings rate given longer lifespans and increased concerns about future financial needs. In turn, these healthier communities help fuel economies. People make the world go ‘round. Hopefully one day our metrics of success will illustrate this, too.
