Reimagining healthy populations of the future with long-term thinking
Episode 7 of the 10 Revolutions podcast landed a few weeks back. We spoke with Anastasia Nemchuk about health misinformation, starting over in a new country, Ukrainian culture and what it really means to make a difference in your community.
When the war broke out in Ukraine, Anastasia was living in Spain. Four years on, she's made a home in the UK with her five children. Since arriving in the UK, she's built a life around volunteering, social enterprise and helping people make sense of health information and being less susceptible to misinformation.
We talked about:
- The health myths so many of us fall for
- British hospitality, and why Oxford felt like home
- Ukrainian culture, and why Ukrainians are so much more than a headline about refugees
It got me thinking about how what she was doing still so much seems to go against the grain of short-term thinking and protecting the status quo.
In my opinion a future where we can all thrive will be built on three things:
- Courage
- Imagination
- Long-term thinking.
Anastasia is someone who embodies all of these better than most and is a great example of the leadership the world needs right now.
Courage => Anastasia has fled her war torn country, survived personal tragedy and now decided to devote her energy to public service, alongside bringing up 5 children in a new country.
Imagination => Despite all this, she has the foresight to imagine a better future and has studied public health which prioritises education and prevention over cure.
Long-term thinking => Clearly investing in educating everyone about the value of good nutrition, exercise, sleep, social support and mental health is a worthwhile investment.
But whether it’s a failure to invest in infrastructure projects, renewables or public health, most governments lack courage and imagination and tend to set their sights on the latest opinion polls, electoral cycles and fixing short term problems rather than focusing on more distant horizons. This firefighting mentality explains why national debt is now 95% of GDP and NHS waiting lists are close to record highs.
I had a peep at some data on government health spending:
=> The UK government spends around 9% of GDP or £280b on health
=> 2/3 of this is on curative and rehabilitative treatment
=> 1/4 of it on treatment of chronic diseases linked to unhealthy diets
=> And only £1 in 20 is spent on preventative healthcare.
This also overlooks the £300bn cost to the UK economy of poor mental health, which also contributes to dietary and lifestyle habits.
Imagine how much of this £280b we could save, if we had the courage to take a long-term preventative view and imagined a healthier future for all members of society?
=> Public health over NHS waiting lists
=> Children's wellbeing over exam results
=> Important things before urgent things
=> Using our acorn brains not our marshmallow brains
I'll be touching on these themes when I talk to a group of students at University of Kent's employability festival later this month. I'm really interested to hear their views.
And I think the leadership we need will come from people like Anastasia - it will come from citizens in their communities - it will come from the top of purpose led organisations (run by the generation entering work now), not governments.
What are the things you think we most need to create a better future and thrive in the 21st Century? Please do comment.
This post was written by Mark A King. You can follow him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkingbravo/ (opens in a new tab)