A healthier nation is a stronger economy

MSD UK

5 min read39 min Partner content

The UK has set out an ambitious vision for improving health, boosting prevention and growing the economy. The challenge now is delivering on that vision and recognising that investment in health is not just good social policy, but a prerequisite for long-term economic prosperity

MSD has authored and fully funded this article.

The 81^st session of the United Nations General Assembly concluded on the 28 September in New York, after three weeks of world leaders debating key challenges facing nations across the globe. This year’s theme, Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All, feels particularly pertinent to the UK, at a time when a new government is seeking to do just that.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has spoken about the consequences of political churn and the difficulty of delivering long term change during constant disruption. After years of frequent changes in leadership, priorities and policy direction, this parliament presents an opportunity to move from strategy to delivery, and break the stop start cycle of progress we have become used to in the UK.

Few areas better illustrate that challenge than health.

Over the past year alone, the government has published a series of significant plans, including the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, the Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Cancer Plan and new strategies focused on prevention and cardiovascular disease. Together, they set out an ambitious vision for a healthier, more productive nation. The question now is not what we should do, but whether we are truly prepared to deliver it, and how quickly we can get there.

Too often, health is discussed primarily as a cost. Debate tends to focus on NHS budgets, waiting lists and rising demand. Those issues matter enormously, but they can obscure a more fundamental point: good health is a foundation of economic prosperity. If we wish to improve productivity, increase labour market participation and boost growth, then improving the nation’s health must be viewed as an economic priority as much as a social one.

"Good health is a foundation of economic prosperity"

We readily accept that transport infrastructure enables growth. Reliable roads allow people and goods to move efficiently. Digital infrastructure allows businesses to innovate and compete. Energy infrastructure keeps the economy running. Health should be seen through exactly the same lens. A healthy population is more able to work, learn, innovate and contribute. Conversely, poor health places a drag on economic performance through lost productivity, pressure on public services and reduced participation in the labour market. The Life Sciences Sector Plan explicitly recognises this “health dividend”, noting that better population health supports economic growth and productivity.

This challenge has become urgent. In the UK, long-term sickness is preventing 2.8 million people from participating fully in work and community life,¹ and this is expected to reach 4.3 million by the next parliament.² For individuals and families, the consequences can be profound. For the economy, the cumulative impact is significant, resulting in billions of pounds worth of lost tax revenue and increased NHS costs.

That is why investment in health and prevention matters.

Vaccination programmes, cardiovascular disease prevention, earlier cancer diagnosis and adoption of innovative medicines are often discussed as health interventions. They are. But they are also economic interventions. Every hospital admission prevented, every adult who remains healthy enough to stay in work, and every condition managed before it becomes acute helps strengthen both the NHS and the wider economy.

The same is true of investment in life sciences.

The UK’s life sciences sector supports hundreds of thousands of highly skilled jobs, attracts substantial private investment and contributes significantly to national health, and research and development. Few sectors can simultaneously improve patient outcomes, create high-value employment, attract foreign investment and strengthen national resilience. Investment in the sector will be central to the innovation-led economy the Prime Minister wants to build.

During the pandemic, the UK demonstrated what can be achieved when health is treated as a strategic national priority. Collaboration between government, the NHS, academia and industry delivered vaccines at unprecedented speed and helped protect the nation. The lesson shouldn’t be forgotten, investment in health is not simply about responding to crises, but about building resilience before they emerge.

The government has rightly identified both health and life sciences as central to its growth mission. The challenge now is to ensure that these ambitions are held up against the realities of public spending pressures and short-term fiscal decision making. If health is viewed solely through the lens of annual departmental expenditure, opportunities will be missed. If it is viewed as infrastructure, the calculation changes. Investment today generates societal and economic returns tomorrow, and the evidence to support this is compelling.

At a time when governments around the world are grappling with ageing populations, rising healthcare demand and sluggish productivity growth, we have an opportunity to take a different approach. We can recognise that economic resilience and population health are two sides of the same coin.

The strategies have been written, and the vision has been articulated. What we need now is sustained delivery and the political confidence to treat health not simply as a public service, but as one of the country’s most important long-term investments.

Because a healthier nation is not only a fairer nation, but also a more productive, more resilient and ultimately more prosperous one.

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