The Role of Business in Addressing Health Inequity through Nature

Welcome to our briefing paper on the role of business in addressing health inequity through nature. It’s been prepared to introduce you to some of the topics and participants you’ll encounter at the upcoming event. To understand the role of Nature as a partner for sustained health and wellbeing, the relevance of nature-based solutions, regenerative place-making, the importance of healthy air, soil, water, and food.

Globally, healthcare systems are predicted to face an additional $1.1 trillion cost due to climate-induced impacts on population health including respiratory diseases, dementias, and mental illness.

Poor health costs the UK economy an estimated £138 billion per year due to absence and impact on productivity at work. A UK workers lose an average of 6.1 days a year due to formal absence, with the majority of lost working hours due to employees not working effectively as a result of ill-health. Public services have been weakened by a decade of austerity, with local government, social security benefits, and the National Health Service particularly affected. Earlier life expectancy gains slowed dramatically and, for some groups, reversed. Over the past decade, the number of young people out of work for health reasons has doubled to 190,000 from 93,000. This means people in their 20s are now more likely to be economically inactive due to ill health than people in their 40s. The increasing prevalence of mental health issues has been one of the key factors in this rise. One-in-three people aged between 18-24 reported symptoms of depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder in 2021-22. This was up from one in four people in 2000.