How a Fit Population Un-burdens the Government From High Healthcare costs, Leading to a More Productive and Thriving Society.
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Unless public policy prioritizes population health and well-being, we cannot attain a healthy future.
Poor health and fitness reduces an individual's economic possibilities throughout their life. Ill health impacts the potential of children to accumulate human capital; in adults, it diminishes the quality of life and labor market results, and disadvantage accumulates over a lifetime.
?Despite all of the compelling evidence that good health benefits economies and communities, it is astonishing how health systems throughout the world failed to maximize population health even before the COVID-19 outbreak. This catastrophe has revealed the strains and inadequacies of our health systems. We must address these issues for populations to be healthier and more robust to future shocks. [1]
?Although health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have improved over the last few decades, a new reality exists. Changing health demands, rising public expectations, and bold new health objectives push health systems to achieve better health outcomes and more social value. However, continuing on the current path will not be enough to satisfy these objectives. [2] The apparent reason countries that spend less on health care might have more excellent health is that health is about more than just health care. According to studies, medical treatment accounts for just 10% to 20% of the difference in early death. [3]
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Healthcare alone is not sufficient.
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Image sourced through: https://www.kff.org/
?The majority of the debate in bioethics and health policy on social responsibility for health has centered on society's commitment to providing access to healthcare. While maintaining access to healthcare is a critical social obligation, communities may improve health in various ways, including sanitation, pollution management, food and medication safety, health education, disease monitoring, urban planning, and occupational health. Other health promotion initiatives, such as environmental and public health, as well as health research, should get more focus.
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WHAT DRIVES HEALTH?
?Health is influenced by five domains, all of which have complex interdependencies:
?1.????health care,
2.????health habits,
3.????the physical and social environment,
4.????socioeconomic position, and
5.????public policy.
?A person's way of life causes most diseases. [4] For example, tardy behaviors (e.g., poor nutrition, lack of physical exercise) cause chronic illnesses, and the environment also exerts some influence. People can only make the choices available to them: they cannot eat properly if they live in a food desert, and they cannot exercise or play outdoors if their constructed environment is hazardous. Domestic trauma, social isolation, residential segregation, and institutional racism, for example, may all be harmful to one's health.
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Lifestyle Factors Influencing Health
Below we have listed a few leading causes:
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·?????Six of the ten top causes of worldwide illness are lifestyle-related: unsafe sex, high blood pressure, cigarette use, alcohol consumption, high cholesterol, and obesity. [5]
·?????Lifestyle diseases also contribute to increased healthcare expenditures. Healthcare spending in the United States accounts for around 16% of GDP, or $1.9 trillion. [6]
·?????Even though smoking has been progressively declining since the 1960s, smoking-related medical expenditures remain over $75.5 billion per year.
·?????Obesity, which has been increasing over the last two decades, contributes to around $75 billion in healthcare expenses in the country each year. [7]
·?????In the United States, alcoholism and drug addiction account for around $22.5 billion and $12 billion in yearly healthcare expenses, respectively. [8]
·?????The federal government spends more than $13 billion each year on HIV/AIDS healthcare. [9]
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Beyond Health Care: Social Determinants' Role in Encouraging Health and Health Equity
?Given the well-established link between lifestyle, sickness burden, and healthcare expenses, it makes economic and medical sense to hold people morally accountable for their health-related decisions. Individuals should play a significant part in their own physical maintenance, but they should not be held fully responsible for it. Assuming that responsibility for health resides with people or with society, society should also contribute to the promotion of health and the prevention of sickness. That's where social determinants come into play!
?The circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age are referred to as social determinants of health. [10] They include:
?·?????socioeconomic position,
·?????education, neighborhood,
·?????physical environment,
·?????job,
·?????social support networks, and
·?????health care access.
Image sourced through: https://www.kff.org/
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How Putting Health First May Help Restore Economies.
?A rising number of programs to address socioeconomic determinants of health are developing. Some of these programs aim to emphasize health in the non-health sector. In contrast, others seek to have the health care system address more significant social and environmental variables that impact health.
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Promoting the health of vulnerable populations.
?There is emerging evidence that some processes and situations routinely prevent or hinder population groups from achieving economic, social, political, and cultural inclusion. These variables are substantially linked to disparities in health status and access to healthcare services.[11]
?By detecting and tackling health obstacles in diverse areas, interventions might be customised to suit the needs of disadvantaged populations. In many circumstances, this would need multisectoral responses that included not just healthcare but also housing, education, social services, and jobs. Addressing the underlying socioeconomic issues that contribute to poor health might play a significant role in reducing health disparity.
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Investing in health to increase resilience.
?We can enhance the health of the world's population by employing what we know now, which would create resilience against future pandemics and drastically improve the quality of life for millions of people who endure the heavy daily toll of chronic illnesses. In a Mckinsey study, researchers looked at the health concerns of over 200 nations. They found that proven interventions—such as adopting healthy behaviors, extending access to primary care, and improving medication adherence—could lower the global illness burden by 40% over 20 years.
Rather than treating illnesses, more than 70% of the health gains would come from prevention via better settings, healthier behavior, regular physical exercise and preventive care (including safe childbirth, immunization, and adherence to risk-lowering drugs).
?Investing in communities to ensure that children grow up to enjoy long and healthy lives is one strategy to enhance health. The remaining 30% of the advantages discovered would be provided by established medicines to address pre-existing health issues.
?Expanding the creative momentum generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
?The reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that innovation could be expedited under the appropriate conditions and that collaborative techniques, knowledge sharing, and transparent information are crucial.
?We might also build on other areas of innovation that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine usage has skyrocketed: in 2019, 11% of US customers utilized telehealth services; currently, 46% use them to replace in-person consultations interrupted during the crisis.
?We can do more to prioritize research in areas, such as, going to the gym regularly, to overcome some of the incentive hurdles that hinder research in preventive measures against diseases.
?LIFESTYLE DISEASES: A Financial Burden on Health Services
?Lifestyle diseases share risk factors that are similar to long-term exposure to three modifiable lifestyle behaviors:
?·?????smoking,
·?????poor diet, and
·?????lack of physical activity.
?These result in the development of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and some types of cancer.
?Turning back the clock: adopting a healthy & fit lifestyle
?The combination of four healthy lifestyle characteristics – keeping a healthy weight, exercising on a regular basis, eating healthy food, and not smoking – seems to be connected with an 80% decrease in the chance of getting the most prevalent and dangerous chronic illnesses. This strengthens existing public health recommendations for the practice of good lifestyle habits. Since the roots of these habits often emerge during the formative phases of life, it is particularly vital to begin imparting critical lessons about healthy and fit living at a young age.
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Modest but feasible changes in lifestyle behaviors are likely to significantly influence both the individual and population levels. Working out at the gym not only helps you lose weight and stay healthy, but it also provides other health advantages. Exercise on a regular basis has been demonstrated to increase cardiovascular fitness, lower blood pressure, blood fat levels, increase muscle mass and reduce belly fat.
?Conclusion: A healthy society is a productive society
?Health and fitness is a vital component of being human; both positive and negative implications resonate deeply with the human brain. When we are unwell, injured, or dealing with chronic aches, the implications go beyond the personal, impacting families, communities, the economy, and the overall well-being of our country.
?Our country's potential to prosper is inextricably related to its health. Having a well-educated and skilled staff is not enough: physical and mental well-being are also required for productivity. A society's most incredible natural resource is its people, and its prosperity is determined by how they are cultivated and cared for.
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References
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2.????Evolution and patterns of global health financing 1995–2014: development assistance for health, and government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending in 184 countries.
3.????Lancet.?2017;?389: 1981-2004
4.????Woolf SH. Progress in achieving health equity requires attention to root causes.?Health Aff (Millwood). 2017; 36(6): 984–991.?
5.????Easthope G.Lifestyle, health and disease. New York: Routledge, 2006
6.????World Health Organization?The world health report: reducing risks, promoting healthy life. Geneva: WHO, 2002
7.????National Coalition on Health Care Facts on the costs of health care. https://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml (accessed 20 Jun 2007)
8.????Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Smoking costs nation $150 billion each year in health costs, lost productivity. https://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r020412.htm (accessed 20 Jun 2007)
9.????The Marin Institute Health care costs of alcohol. https://www.marininstitute.org/alcohol_policy/health_care_costs.htm (accessed 20 Jun 2007)
10.?“About Social Determinants of Health,” World Health Organization, accessed April 25, 2018,?https://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/.
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Founder and Investor MBB Group
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