Our province faces increasing costs to our health system and society, largely due to preventable illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
38% of British Columbians have been diagnosed as having one or more chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are forecasted to increase by 58% in BC over the next 25 years.
An additional $1.5 billion of funding will be required over the next three years to keep pace with the increase in demand for health services.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Decades of research have shown that preventive health care, or health interventions that take place before the onset of disease, can:
- reduce the rate of people developing chronic diseases (so people can live longer, healthier lives), and
- help control health care costs.
Opportunities for Action
The 6% Solution
We need a significant increase in prevention health care in the health care system.
Current funding for public and population health approaches only make up 3% of the $17 billion provincial health care budget. We need to double this number to 6%.
What we’re doing right now is not good enough. We need more preventative health programs to ensure the sustainability of our health care system, and protect the health of our future generations.
We need you to raise your voice. Join us and advocate for more preventative health programming. Here’s how.
More information on health promotion and disease prevention
Disease Prevention + Health Promotion Backgrounder
Disease Prevention + Health Promotion Q&A
YOUR HEALTH VOICE 