2013-01-23-Bain-The_charter_for_healthy_living_24页_6mb

Summary of the Charter for Healthy Living

Core Content

The Charter for Healthy Living is a collaborative initiative launched by the World Economic Forum in partnership with Bain & Company. It aims to promote healthy and active living globally by encouraging multistakeholder action across public, private, and civil society sectors. The initiative is rooted in the belief that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a major threat to global health, social development, and economic growth.

The Charter outlines four key principles for achieving sustainable and systemic change in health outcomes:

1. Joint, concrete, and evidence-based multistakeholder action to promote Healthy Living and prevent and control NCDs, with stakeholders leveraging their core competencies to:

   • Build awareness for Healthy Living and NCD prevention
   • Improve availability and access to products and services
   • Create innovative incentives and supportive environments
   • Invest in professional capacity building
   • Advance knowledge through science and research

2. Effective, transparent, and respectful collaboration among stakeholders to build a shared mindset and align on common goals.

3. All organizations advancing their own approach to Healthy Living, playing a leadership role within their sectors and peer groups.

4. Regular monitoring and evaluation of Healthy Living actions to ensure continuous improvement and the sharing of successful, evidence-based solutions.

Main Goals

• To enable individuals, families, and communities to lead healthy and active lives.
• To address the global burden of NCDs, which are projected to cause $47 trillion in economic loss over the next two decades.
• To align stakeholders around a shared vision of Healthy Living as a global paradigm shift, where health is recognized as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not just the absence of disease.

Key Challenges to Healthy Living

The document highlights several interconnected challenges that impact Healthy Living:

• Global megatrends such as aging populations and urbanization are increasing the prevalence of NCDs and reducing physical activity.
• Rising prevalence of risk factors includes tobacco use, unhealthy diets, harmful alcohol use, and physical inactivity, which are leading causes of NCD-related mortality and disability.
• Social pressures such as poverty, inequality, and psychosocial stress significantly influence health outcomes and exacerbate the impact of NCDs.

Economic Impact

The economic consequences of declining Healthy Living are substantial:

• NCDs are expected to cause a cumulative output loss of $47 trillion by 2030, which represents 75% of global GDP in 2010.
• In low- and middle-income countries, the economic loss is projected to exceed $7 trillion between 2011 and 2025.
• These losses are equivalent to 4% of the annual output in these countries, underscoring the urgent need for preventive health investments.

Call for Multistakeholder Action

• The Charter emphasizes that system-level change can only be achieved through multistakeholder and cross-sectoral collaboration.
• It calls for greater coordination among governments, businesses, and civil society to address the complex, interconnected drivers of Healthy Living.
• The World Economic Forum is committed to providing a neutral platform for stakeholders to implement the Charter and is seeking additional support and engagement to move forward with this initiative.

Examples of Multistakeholder Efforts

• The UK Salt Reduction Initiative is highlighted as a successful example of multisectoral collaboration, where the government, food industry, and NGOs worked together to reduce salt intake.
• The initiative led to a reduction in mean salt intake from 9.5 to 8.1 grams per day between 2000 and 2011, and increased awareness and behavioral change among the population.

Conclusion

The Charter for Healthy Living is a blueprint for systemic change, aiming to transform global health outcomes through collective action. It underscores the moral and economic imperative to address NCDs and promote a culture of health that is inclusive, sustainable, and impactful. By fostering shared responsibility, innovation, and continuous learning, the Charter seeks to improve the quality of life for millions of people worldwide and support global economic development.