Our Work
The Need
Envisioning a world free of preventable diseases
Health behaviors, environment and inequities are major risk factors for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. For many developing nations, overall “life-span” has increased. At the same time, improved “health-span” has suffered. As a result, the costs to society are increasing exponentially. Countries around the world urgently seek to implement wellness approaches to reduce non-communicable disease (NCD) incidence and other public health priorities, particularly for at-risk individuals.
The world’s leading health organizations and public officials tell us they welcome:
- Better local data (especially in vulnerable communities) to understand the youth health environment
- Greater commitment to improving local health inequities
- Trusted and verified best practices and localized, accessible and actionable solutions for local communities
- A scalable, global, health platform to accelerate and amplify (not replace) evidence-based approaches that improve population health and make disease prevention a reality – especially in the most vulnerable communities
Looking Forward
Our vision is for future generations to look back at this moment and realize we knew what it took to make disease prevention a reality and did something about it.
Treating disease alone cannot drive healthier outcomes:
- Hospital care consumes 97% of healthcare costs
- Only 10% of factors that determine life expectancy related to care in hospitals
Understanding the Need
Youth
Invest in children’s health for lifelong, intergenerational, and economic benefits.
Countries failing to meet childhood obesity targets.
95% of adult smokers start before age 21.
COVID-19 and Inequities
COVID-19 has been unforgiving on people living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Can behavioral science prepare us for the next pandemic?
A tale of two zip codes: COVID-19 exposes deep disparities in U.S. schools.
The Gap
Many Americans lack cancer prevention knowledge.
The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research.
Economics
The global economic burden of noncommunicable diseases.
The heavy burden of obesity: The economics of prevention.
U.S. health care from a global perspective.
Digital Health
How human-centered design is driving digital health.
Plan launch by WHO on accelerating use of digital technologies to meet global public health needs.
New community index will mine social determinants of health data.
Bloomberg Philanthropies announces $120M reinvestment to expand data for health initiative.
