The Social and Economic Value of Health An innovative research programme to investigate the impact of health on society and the economy

Social and Economic Value of Health research programme 2019

Aims

This round of the programme aims to understand the extent to which the health of a population (physical and/or mental) shapes the social and economic outcomes of that population.

The programme will help to develop understanding of the contribution that the overall level and distribution of wellbeing and health among the population in a geographical area makes to the social and economic prosperity of that place.

The outcomes of this programme should help to:

• build knowledge of the relationship between a given population’s health and the health of individuals within that population
• establish the definitions and metrics needed to examine the relationship between the health of a population in a place and the social and economic outcomes of that place.

We are funding four projects with awards between £250,000 and £350,000 for a maximum duration of two years.

Find out more about this round of the programme. 

Social and Economic Value of Health research programme 2017

Aims

This round of the programme aimed to generate new knowledge and expand our understanding of the impact that a person’s physical and/or mental health has on their own economic and social outcomes over the medium to long term.

The projects have been developing our understanding of the economic and social case for investing in strategies that maintain, protect and create health more broadly than through investment in health care. They seek to reframe health as an asset that can potentially deliver wider economic and social returns on investment. The projects are building evidence on the causal impacts of health, mainly by using date linkage and statistical methods, to better understand the effect of health status on social and economic outcomes.

All six projects will be completed in 2020/21.