Preventable health conditions cost G20 economies more than $1tn in lost productivity in 2019, according to a new research by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC).
The report, ‘A window of opportunity: Delivering prevention in an ageing world’, explains how G20 citizens aged 50 and over collectively lived 118m years with disability due to largely preventable conditions in 2019.
For those aged between 50-64, this cost economies $1.02tn in lost productivity, which is roughly equivalent to the estimated loss in global worker income brought on by COVID-19 during the first half of last year.
Flu alone cost these countries $27bn in sick days during that time – roughly equivalent to what India spent on its military in the same year. Population ageing and increasing health inequalities risk exacerbating the problem.
To tackle this challenge, the report calls on all G20 governments to invest at least 6% of their health budgets on preventative interventions, including vaccination, early detection of disease, lifestyle changes and better management of existing health conditions.
The report also reveals that countries with a higher proportion of health spending covered by the government have the highest healthy life expectancy.
Alongside investment, ILC calls for all countries to develop national preventative health strategies, including national life course vaccination programmes that see parity of uptake targets at all age groups. M