The importance of sustainable financing for health promotion from a global perspective

I understand that one of the major challenges for a public health organisation or those who work to promote health is the lack of adequate and sustainable funding for the prevention of non-communicable diseases or NCDs, in particular tobacco control.

Many governments have introduced strong measures to address health and economic burdens caused by NCDs. For example, enacting tobacco control policies, alcohol advertising ban, introducing policies to promote healthy diet and physical activities.

However, in many cases, funding is not adequately allocated to fully implement these policies.

This e-Learning course provides a platform to share knowledge and lessons learnt from experts on developing the innovative financing mechanism to secure sustainable funding for health promotion and NCD prevention.

Before we learn from experts, let’s answer this important question: Why should the government invest in health promotion and NCD prevention? I believe you can think of many reasons.

For me, the obvious reason is the growing burden from NCDs. Currently, NCDs kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74% of all deaths globally. Tobacco alone accounts for over 8 million deaths every year.

In the meantime, the healthcare costs in treating NCDs are increasing. It is estimated that the cost is more than USD 2 trillion per year.

Almost 100% of this huge money is used for caring for the sick with little budget appropriation for health promotion and NCD prevention.

In most countries, the health promotion budget is solely dependent on government’s budget allocation or international development aid that are often limited and vary from year to year.

Even if a budget is available, it is found that the amount is unsustainable and too low to fund comprehensive health promotion programmes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that by introducing a health tax, health systems' burden will be reduced.

Increasing tobacco and alcohol tax is the best buy and win-win policy because raising tax on these health-harmful products not only protects people from health risks but the revenue generated from this tax can be used for public health or NCD prevention.

The World Health Organization has identified significant health and economic returns through investment in key NCD best buy intervention.

An additional investment of USD 0.84 per person per year in low-income countries and low-and-middle-income countries is projected to save close to 7 million lives and avoid 10 million cases of heart disease and stroke. The economic gains are estimated to be worth more than USD 230 billion.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has released findings from the investment case study. The investment case conducted in 26 countries showed that if the government invests in health promotion to address the risk factors of NCDs by implementing best buy and recommended measures, it is estimated that about 13.4 million lives will be saved and USD 294.6 billion economic loss can be averted.

The tax measures are also recommended by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the global treaty ratified by 183 parties.

But the main question is how our government, or your government, can introduce the policy on health tax and use the revenue generated for promoting health. This e-Learning course has the answer for you.