The importance of health and well-being for a true sustainable future.
What binds health and well-being to the possibility of a sustainable future?
And why should attention to these issues be a priority for governments around the world?
Health and well-being are fundamental for all of us and when they are lacking, every other aspect loses its importance, we feel disempowered and cannot cope with life in the right way.
Sustainable goal number 3 among the 17 developed by the UN for the Agenda 2030, health and wellbeing are priority aspects for every human being and the consequences of a lack of attention to these issues affect various aspects of our daily life and of our society.
Bringing a project concerning the protection of health and well-being therefore leads to participating in the construction of a sustainable future.
Sustainability, health and well-being.
Sustainability is like a three-armed balance, each one respectively representing People, Planet and Profit. Each of these three aspects must be in balance with the other two in order to achieve a truly sustainable structure.
Health and wellbeing lie squarely in the middle of the Person, Planet, Profit triad as they can impact or be impacted by each of the three pillars of sustainability.
Without health and wellbeing, the balance between the three arms breaks down and the process of sustainable development gets into crisis.
So let’s see how health and wellness can keep the scales in balance and take us into the right direction.
People: Social Impact
The social dimension is clearly the one most impacted with regard to health and wellbeing issues.
The possibility of being healthy and being able to take care of myself directly impacts my ability to be well and thus to actively participate in the life of society.
If I am healthy, I have contacts with friends and colleagues, I move around without problems, I am autonomous, I do not need assistance, and I can propose activities of various kinds and contribute to the development of social ties, to nourish and be nourished by participation in the community in which I live and work.
If I am not in good health, I will need care, specialised personnel, a social support network. My activities will be modified as a result of my situation and it will become essential to be able to recover or otherwise be assisted to adapt to a different lifestyle while living with my illness.
The same goes for the concept of well-being, which is linked to but a variant of health.
(For more information on the concept of well-being you can read the article “People, Light and Nature at the Heart of a Sustainable Business“)
Therefore, it has become important to associate health and wellbeing with the topic of prevention, i.e. all those individual or medical activities that enable us to prevent illnesses and diseases and to live our daily lives healthily: practising sport, eating healthily, living in a place with good air and water quality and without pollutants, having good social relationships, having access to preventive medical acts, etc.
We can deduce from all this that investing in health and well-being produces socially active citizens, capable of serving themselves and others and nurturing the community in which they live.
Profit: the economic impact.
Let us begin by saying that a person in good health and in a state of well-being has inbuilt potential to participate actively in the country’s economy through his or her work, economic contribution, possible charitable activities and active participation in the social sphere.
Preventing illness and disease and providing citizens with adequate tools to be active and fit, brings cost savings to the individual, but also to public spending, and an increase in productivity in the long term, as it contributes to the ability of individuals to serve the society in which they live.
This is the reason why in a fair economic system one should have access to prevention and healthcare commensurate with one’s income: for the same service provided, a person on a low income should be able to have check-ups and receive treatment at an affordable price or free of charge, so as to guarantee access to these services and limit the expenses related to health problems that could have been limited or avoided if a preventive act had been taken.
Similarly, people who encounter health problems or prolonged situations of malaise should also be able to be helped and accompanied financially, so that they can adequately and worthily live out their situation and be able to participate to social life. It is important to add that adequate care prevents the patient’s family members from having to sacrifice their work as well as their family and social life, thus keeping them in business and limiting the extension of the negative impact on the social and economic environment.
These aspects show us how proper attention to health and well-being issues can have a positive impact on the economy of the society in which we live.
Planet: Ecological Impact
First of all, let’s mention that most habits that are detrimental to health also end up having a negative impact on the environment. Here are some examples.
Eating preserved foods containing an excess of fat and calories (so-called ‘junk food’) is not only bad for our bodies but also has a negative impact on the environment, as these foods are often contained in packaging that is not always recyclable, and they can be the result of production processes that expend energy and resources that could be saved for the benefit of us all.
On the other hand, eating fresh, unprocessed and possibly locally produced food will make our bodies as happy as the environment.
In the same way, using the car for short journeys even when not necessary could be replaced by a healthy walk or cycling.
Practices that help the body and the planet often allow us to save money as well: giving up the car to walk or cycle, shopping at the farmer’s market or from local producers will let us save money and our wallets will also find relief.
Another aspect I would like to emphasise is the environmental impact of medical treatment. The healthcare field is particularly exposed to the consumption of energy, resources as well as the massive production of waste that cannot always be recycled. The imperative need for sterile environments and equipment is to be included among the limiting factors.
As much as technology is making great strides to address these issues, the negative impact of the health sector on the environment remains an undeniable reality today. Prevention and timely treatment of illness and disease states therefore leads not only to cost savings but also to a reduction of impacts on the environment.
One can therefore better understand how activities dedicated to improving health and well-being can benefit sustainability and the importance of paying attention to these issues.
Many other topics can be brought to attention to motivate the positive link between health, wellbeing and sustainability; in this article we have brought some of them to your attention and we invite you to continue the discussion with the people you know.
If you have any content to propose on this topic or if you have any questions, please contact us at : info@theslowcorner.com
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