Promoting health,preventing disease: is there an economic ...

1 POLICY SUMMARY 6. Promoting health , preventing disease : is there an economic case? Sherry Merkur, Franco Sassi, David McDaid Keywords: World health Organization 2013 (acting as the host organization for, and secretariat of, the European EDUCATION FOR health . Observatory on health Systems and Policies). health BEHAVIOUR. health POLICY Address requests about publications of the WHO. Regional Office for Europe to: health PROMOTION. Publications SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS WHO Regional Office for Europe UN City, Marmorvej 51, DK-2100 Copenhagen , Denmark Alternatively, complete an online request form for documentation, health information, or for permission to quote or translate, on the Regional Office web site ( ).

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5 To policy options and implementation. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries. POLICY SUMMARY 6. Promoting health , preventing disease : is there an economic case? Sherry Merkur, Franco Sassi, David McDaid Promoting health , preventing disease : is there an economic case? Contents Page Acknowledgements iv Executive summary v Key messages vii 1 Introduction 1.

6 2 Tobacco smoking 2. 3 Physical inactivity 5 Editors 4 Unhealthy diets 8. 5 Alcohol 11 WHO Regional Office 6 Environmental hazards to children's health 14 for Europe and European 7 Road-related injuries 16 Observatory on health 8 Protecting mental health , preventing Systems and Policies depression 19. 9 Investing in health promotion and disease Editor prevention: there is an economic case 21 Govin Permanand Is the evidence base strong enough? 23. What does this evidence tell us about Editorial Board impacts on inequalities?

7 25 Josep Figueras How can we facilitate implementation Hans Kluge and promote uptake? 26. 10 Conclusions 28 John Lavis References 30 David McDaid Elias Mossialos health promotion and disease prevention programmes summary tables of economic Managing Editors evidence 47 Jonathan North Table 1: Tobacco 49. Table 2: Physical inactivity 51 Caroline White Table 3: Unhealthy diets 54. Table 4: Alcohol 61 The authors and editors Table 5: Environmental hazards 63 are grateful to the reviewers Table 6: Road-related injuries 65 who commented on this Table 7: Promoting mental health , preventing publication and contributed depression 69 their expertise.

8 Authors Sherry Merkur, European Observatory on health Systems and Policies and LSE health , London, School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. Franco Sassi, Organisation for economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, France. David McDaid, European Observatory on health No: 6. Systems and Policies and Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), LSE health and Social Care, ISSN 2077-1584. London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. Policy summary Acknowledgements This policy summary is the result of a collaboration between the European Observatory on health Systems and Policies, the Organisation for economic Co-operation and Development and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

9 It provides a preliminary overview and analysis, drawing on and summarizing some of the material prepared for the forthcoming study Promoting health , preventing disease : the economic case. We are extremely grateful to study contributors: Marie-Jeanne Aarts, Adrienne Alayli-Goebbels, Peter Anderson, Robert Anderson, Natalie Bartle, Zack Brown, Fiona Bull, Michele Cecchini, Pim Cuijpers, Silvia Evers, Corinna Hawkes, Cristina Hernandez-Quevedo, Mike Kelly, Don Kenkel, A-La Park, Ionela Petrea, Filip Smit, Marc Suhrcke, Joy Townsend, Leo Transande, Helen Weatherly and Matthias Wismar.

10 The responsibility for any errors in this preliminary overview of study findings is ours alone. iv Promoting health , preventing disease : is there an economic case? Executive summary A core question for policy-makers will be the extent to which investments in preventive actions that address some of the social determinants of health represent an efficient option to help promote and protect population health . Can they reduce the level of ill health in the population? How strong is the evidence base on their effectiveness and, from an economic perspective, how do they stack up against investment in the treatment of health problems?