A new practical guide has been published on ‘How to Make the Case for Investment in Well-being and Health Equity’. This guide is the first product developed under Public Health Wales’ WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) on Investment for Health and Well-being work programme and outlines four key phases on how to synthesize, translate and communicate public health economics evidence into policy and practice. The interrelated four phases guide the reader through the process of developing evidence-informed products, which are context and target audience specific. The guide aims to (i) prevent disinvestment in health; (ii) increase investment in prevention (public health); and (iii) and mainstream cross-sectoral investment to address the wider determinants of health and equity, driving sustainable development for prosperity for all. It has been developed based on a mixed-method approach including an evidence review, interviews with national and international experts, and a multisectoral stakeholder consultation which ensured relevance and transferability across sectors, contexts, settings and countries.
Dr Mariana Dyakova, International Health Lead, said: “Making the case and advocating for investing in people’s well-being and health equity is more important than ever. Evidence shows that current investment strategies and financial approaches are unsustainable, leading to growing challenges for present and future generations. This guide promotes investing in evidence-informed, cross-sector, fair public policies and actions which benefit people, communities, society, the economy and the planet.”
This practical guide builds on the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s Health Equity Status Report and the United Nations 2010 agenda for Sustainable Development. Key stakeholder, advocates for health equity, civil servants and other health and non-health professionals who have a role in forming, influencing or shaping national and subnational policy and practice will be enabled to develop healthy policy- and decision-making across different sectors and country settings by using this guide.
Resources:
The guide will be available as a summary version here: http://phwwhocc.co.uk/ih/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/WHO_CC_Investment_Guide_Summary_English.pdf
The full version of ‘How to Make the Case for Investment in Well-being and Health Equity: A Practical Guide’ has been developed as interactive online (Pdf) document, easy to navigate and use. This version is available here: http://phwwhocc.co.uk/ih/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/WHO_CC_Investment_Guide_Interactive_English.pdf
More information on the WHO CC on Investment for Health and Well-being: About Us – International Health