At a Glance

  • Health and well-being go beyond the absence of disease. We must focus on prevention, better outcomes, lower costs and more seamless patient experiences.
  • This idea requires change by individuals, systems and communities—the future is centred on people. Individuals hold the key to their unique path to health.

Health and Well-being: Central to the Human Experience

Whoever you are, wherever you live, being and feeling healthy and well is a universal aspiration.

But humanity is undergoing tremendous change and stress. On one hand, we consider the life-enhancing breakthroughs in science and technology. On the other are destabilizing factors, such as the global pandemic and persistent inequities, along with the disruption that often accompanies new technologies. That leaves us reevaluating existing approaches to health.

  • What are the right goals?
  • The most appropriate business models?
  • The best incentives?
  • The most effective ways to gain community support?

A more human-empowered, knowledge-driven and technology-enabled approach is possible.

A redefined concept of health and well-being focuses on prevention, better outcomes, lower costs, and more seamless, less fragmented experiences. Experiences where individuals are supported by a shared ecosystem that spans governments, institutions, businesses and organizations. Central to the idea is the definition of health as a state of physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or illness.

The Challenges

Challenge 1: Knowledge Base

Healthcare information now encompasses a vast array of sources, and we must be discerning as to which information is reliable. The well-being of the future relies on a new foundation of long-term commitment to sharing trustworthy, accessible and ready-to-use knowledge.

Challenge 2: Healthcare Base

Broadening the scope of healthcare from treatment to the preservation of good health is a big challenge. Making this shift requires a significant overhaul of the design of our existing health systems, which remain aimed at treatment once someone is already ill.

Challenge 3: Data Issues

Currently, health data is siloed in disaggregated systems. Emerging technologies are set to help, by supporting the continuous use of data across care and everyday settings. Yet this transition needs to be carefully managed. If data is to be shared, it must be done safely and securely to protect individuals’ privacy.

The future of health and well-being is human-centric. That means focusing not on transactions, but on people:

  • Consumers and patients on the demand side
  • Caregivers and healthcare providers on the supply side

In this future, individuals hold the key to their unique path to health, supported by a holistic and nourishing ecosystem that fosters well-being.

 “Making Home the Focal Point for Care” to learn how health systems can meet demand for hospital-level in-home care.

The future of healthcare is focusing on what’s important to patients and their health and well-being journey. This requires building trust and transparency across the entire ecosystem through technology-enabled, proactive collaboration.

Lisa Esch, Senior Vice-President, Chief Innovation Officer
Healthcare Provider, NTT DATA Services

The Guiding Principles towards a better life of Health and Well-being

The future of health and well-being puts the person at the center. Every individual holds the key to their unique path to health, supported by a holistic ecosystem that fosters well-being. Framing this future are seven core principles that define a vision of human-centric health and well-being.

Change Requires Individuals, Systems, Communities

Learn about our guiding principles on the journey to a human-centric future of health and well-being.

On the individual level, each person needs to do more than simply hope for a healthy life. Advances in science and technology are making these steps more achievable. The payoff is more time spent being healthy and happy, and less time spent healing or in an assisted condition.

On a second level, we need robust, human-friendly systems. To support individuals and their healthier lifestyles, these systems should be blended and united, rather than siloed and fragmented. They should look beyond the cure to understand the cause. In so doing, they should share and embody core ethical values that strengthen the community and individuals they serve.

The third sphere of action involves communities. Everyone belongs to several, all of which will play a role in accelerating the shift towards human-centric health and well-being. These changes will engage families, work teams, neighbourhoods and other physical and virtual social connections.

Individuals

One takes concrete action to make health and well-being an integral part of a lifestyle

Systems

Robust, human-friendly systems support individuals and their healthier lifestyles

Communities

Community support is vital in successfully fostering well-being and responsibility.

We can look to a future of healthcare in which maintaining and promoting people’s general well-being is a more prominent aim for society.

Through a concerted and collaborative effort that includes the right application of technology, we can continue to advance and build on the collective learnings from the pandemic to evolve our approach to health and well-being. The roadmap to a healthier future is built on four stages that help overcome current challenges while leveraging digital transformation and innovative technology to catalyze and enable change:

A Better Life

The journey towards a human-friendly world of health and well-being means applying smart shifts along the way, and we identify four stages to cover in the path.

The Four Stages of a Healthier Future

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