Environments that facilitate health in the form of nutritious food choices or sufficient amounts of daily physical activity can greatly reduce the social and financial impact of NCDs.
Much of the global NCD burden could be alleviated if healthy options were the natural ones with regard to the many daily choices people face. Making it easy for people to enjoy healthy diets and engage in sufficient daily physical activity are important aspects of this approach.
According to the WHO, 2.7 million lives could be saved annually by increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. One way of realizing this potential gain is by targeting existing price barriers for these foods. Food taxes, subsidies, price promotions, vouchers, and rewards are among the effective interventions and incentives that can be used to address price barriers. Tax revenues can subsequently be channeled towards health promotion efforts to multiply the positive impact.
Food suppliers can also be incentivized to provide healthy food by applying a “polluter pays” principle to the industry. This would require companies to pay for the proven health costs of unhealthy foods high in, for example, sodium. Alternatively, in lower-income settings, mechanisms such as conditional cash transfers can be a powerful social investment and an effective means of enabling healthy food choices.
Equally, as physical inactivity is the fourth-highest risk factor for mortality worldwide, designing compact cities that facilitate movement is another important enabler of health for people at all income levels. Since people spend 70 to 90 percent of their time indoors, designing workplaces, schools, and homes that encourage physical activity can help to combat the growing problem of sedentary lifestyles. Healthy employees mean a more productive workforce for businesses and less pressure placed on national health systems. Infrastructure such as bike lanes or pedestrian-friendly roads that enable active transportation can generate financial gains while improving the health of entire populations.
Survey Findings
The market opportunity Everyday Health Enablers is rated highly for its impact on business. Respondents across all sectors rate are very positive on the market opportunity’s potential effect on business and the market also performs strongly when assessed for its capacity to inspire new business ventures.
Respondents in the finance and service sectors are in particular positive towards this opportunity, and even though it is rated less favorably by the governmental sector, this opportunity is seen as one of the most likely to be pursued actively by respondents in this sector.
Geographically, the market opportunity of Everyday Health Enablers is doing well across most regions in terms of its potential positive impact on societies.
The expected backing from stakeholders is strongest for civil society and business stakeholders in all regions except China, where the image is flipped, so politics and finance stakeholders are seen as most positive.
This market was surveyed globally in 2014 by more than 5500 leaders from both the public and private sectors. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the research company YouGov. The survey results were originally published in the Global Opportunity Report 2015.
Global Goals addressed
