Promoting Health, Preventing Disease: The Economic Case

Abstract

The economic case This book provides an economic perspective on health promotion and chronic disease prevention, and gives a rationale for assessing the economic case for action. It provides a comprehensive review of the evidence base in support of a broad range of public health interventions, addressing not only their effectiveness in improving population health, but also their implementation costs, impacts on health expenditures and wider economic consequences. An economic perspective is about more than counting the costs associated with poor health. It is about understanding how economic incentives can influence healthy lifestyle choices in the population. The book provides tools for developing effective and efficient policy strategies and addressing trade-offs between the goals of improving population health, while being mindful of the need to tackle inequalities in health outcomes across individuals and populations. The book: • practically illustrates methods and measures of cost and outcome used in the evaluation of interventions • covers specific risk factor areas including tobacco smoking, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, poor mental health and harmful environmental factors • considers cross-cutting themes including key implementation issues, health inequalities, and the merits of early life interventions