The ripple effect: an OECD perspective on the societal impact of public health policies

Abstract With only about 2.5-3% of health expenditure allocated to public health across EU countries, prevention is often seen as the ‘Cinderella’ of health budgets. Various factors contribute to these low numbers, but a significant one is the growing recognition of the challenges in assessing the true value of public health. To assist countries in advocating for increased investments in public health interventions, the OECD has created a framework, broadly aligned with the OECD Better Life Index, to assess the co-benefits of improved population health across various sectors of the economy and government. For example, this framework includes workforce productivity, skill development, personal income and environmental impact. The framework has been incorporated into the OECD SPHeP (Strategic Public Health Planning) microsimulation model, enabling a quantitative assessment of the positive societal impacts of public health policies. Recently, in response to requests from countries, the OECD has started developing a method to help countries tailor similar frameworks to their local contexts, ensuring fair assessments of public health policies and promoting higher investments. This initiative involves examining both the methodological and governance structures in selected EU and OECD countries to identify best practices. The analysis focuses on country-level criteria for evaluating interventions, such as the discount rate for future costs and benefits and examines the national institutions and political processes involved in investment decisions. This presentation will provide an overview of the OECD's ongoing work and recent advancements in this field, highlighting the challenges faced. It will include practical examples, such as demonstrating the societal impact of achieving the targets set in the EU Beating Cancer Plan.