Over the last decade, unprecedented global shocks have resulted in deeper awareness of the fragility of our planet and of humanity. A healthy climate, nature, health and wellbeing and equity are deeply interrelated and co-dependent. As such, our responses must also be interrelated. Business has a critical role to play in changing our trajectory through swift and sustained action.
The “Healthy People, Healthy Business: How business can contribute to realizing global health” report, developed over the last two years with 23 WBCSD member companies, as part of the Healthy People Healthy Business coalition, makes the interconnected opportunities evident and shows how businesses worldwide can pragmatically build health and wellbeing into their everyday operations across functions and geographies. This broad outlook spans from embedding a culture of health and wellbeing, from the workplace to the consumers they serve, and from building resilient and accessible healthcare systems to accelerating action on climate, nature and equity.
The report shows why health and wellbeing are critical ingredients for sustainability, business success and a livable future, the opportunities for business to drive positive health impacts, and how business can protect, promote and nurture health. It acts as a clarion call, to put health and wellbeing at the heart of the strategic business agenda to help inform decisions and nurture and care for employees, the community in which business operates, and for the world which we all inhabit. Doing so can build business resilience, long-term value and a sustainable and prosperous future for all.
The report outlines the why, what and how for business via four impact opportunities:
- Embed a culture of health and wellbeing in the workplace: Promoting corporate initiatives and behaviors that can help foster the health and wellbeing of employees throughout organizations and value chains.
- Support and enable healthy consumer lifestyles: Identifying critical barriers to healthy lifestyles and exploring business solutions to overcome them.
- Build resilient and accessible health systems: Clearly articulating how businesses from a range of sectors can contribute to the realization of more resilient and universally accessible healthcare on the road to 2030.
- Accelerate action on climate, nature and equity: Understanding the relationship between human health and natural systems (planetary health) in order to integrate health into business actions on climate and nature to protect ecosystems and promote equity.
The ultimate goal is to realize a shared vision of a world in which more than 9 billion people are able to live well, within planetary boundaries, by 2050.