Prevention is the Best Medicine: Rethinking Healthcare in Asia
A “business as usual” approach to healthcare in Asia going forward is not feasible. Fuelled by an ageing population, a rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), efforts to increase access, and rising expectations on quality of care, global spending on health is forecasted to increase from below USD 8 trillion in 2013 to close to USD 20 trillion in 2040.
Academic evidence from the United States shows that every USD 1 invested in prevention in healthcare can save over USD 5 in treatment costs.
Image credit: Nicolas Lannuzel [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
For many governments in Asia, such spending will be challenging to maintain – for instance, growth in healthcare expenditure (excluding indirect and capital costs) outstripped GDP growth between 2000-2015 for 13 out of 14 Asia Pacific economies; and spending on healthcare for the elderly could increase by 9 times the current rates for some countries in Asia by 2030.
As the global population ages, healthcare has to move from treatment to prevention. This reports covers the three major shifts in lifestyles, nutrition and detection needed to support prevention of healthcare issues, and the range of large new business opportunities that will arise.
