Business for a Healthy Society

The Challenge

The World Bank’s report Dying Too Young: Addressing Premature Mortality and Ill Health Due to Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries in the Russian Federation published in 2005 reveals alarming statistics on public health in Russia. According to the World Bank, mortality rates in Russia are 3 to 5 times higher than in the countries of the European Union. In 2002, 605 out of 100 thousand people died in Russia as the result of non-communicable diseases, whilst in the EU this figure is estimated at only 206. Furthermore, 281 out of 100 thousand died in Russia as the result of injuries, as opposed to 58 in the European Union. The average life expectancy throughout Russia is 66, i.e. 12 years younger than in the US; 8 years younger than in Poland and 5 years younger than in China. It goes without saying that all those concerned should get involved in addressing the public health issue, business community included.

IBLF Involvement

Aims and Goals of IBLF Business for Healthy Society program:

•  to improve health and life expectancy in Russia
•  to focus on workplace health through round-tables and training
•  to focus particularly on high risk factors: reduction of smoking, alcoholism, stress.

IBLF has been actively developing the Business and Health agenda over the last few years. We created the “Business for a Healthy Society” series of workshops and round-tables which have been well attended by executives from the major Russian and multinational companies. With help from the World Bank and NGO “Quality of Life”; we conducted Health Audits for companies, to measure the cost of ill-health; we published a book of case studies of what companies are doing to improve the health of their workforce and communities; we organised a major conference on workplace health in Yekaterinburg.

Publications

Healthy Society. Healthy Business

Contacts: further.info@iblf.ru