A Healthy Future (Primary Health Care and the Chronic Disease Epidemic in East Asia and Pacific)

In East Asia and the Pacific, people are living longer but not healthier lives. As populations age and urbanize, an epidemic of noncommunicable diseases – diabetes, hypertension, heart disease – is taking hold, affecting workers in their prime, eroding productivity, and escalating healthcare costs. The most effective strategies to address this health crisis – prevention, screening, early diagnosis, and care management – are best undertaken by a strong primary health care system. However, many East Asia and Pacific countries are using outdated models, focusing on cure rather prevention, and monitoring inputs instead of patient outcomes. Providers lack the capacity and incentives to deliver quality services, and patients lack the knowledge and motivation to adopt healthy lifestyles. But change is possible. By reorienting services to match the population’ s health needs, harnessing digital technologies, reconfiguring incentives, and empowering communities, countries can unlock primary health care’ s potential to prevent disease, improve health outcomes, and reduce health care costs. Drawing on proven approaches, this book proposes concrete reforms that would help realize the promise of primary health care and deliver a healthier and more prosperous future.