About

The IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity is a landmark initiative, building on the success of IPPR’s Lord Darzi Review (2016-2018) and Better Health and Care Programme (2019-2021). The commission is co-chaired by former health minister Lord Ara Darzi, and former Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies. They are joined by commissioners from leading roles in civil society, trade unions, politics, business, and academia.

IPPR have launched the commission to develop a new, positive vision for the role of good health in a just and prosperous country. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that a status quo - in which health is seen as a cost to be contained – just isn’t working. It is time to see health as a critical asset delivering a country and economy that works for everyone.

There has never been a more urgent moment to rethink health, and the role it plays in our economy and society. Covid-19 was not a black swan event, but rather a symptom of rapid growth in global health vulnerability. Whether from an emerging infectious disease, climate emergency, AMR, an ageing population or the rising prevalence of long-term health conditions – we face a future defined by seismic health shocks. We need a plan to deliver and harness the power of good health – for the security of both our lives and our livelihoods.

Over the next 18 months, we will answer the biggest questions – to provide a blueprint to unleash health for prosperity.

• What is the economic cost of health inequalities; what has it proven so hard to make any progress in the last forty years; and how do we deliver health justice?
• How can we design services that meet the health and care demands of the 21^st century, that support our economy and public finances even as demand for them rises, and which provide individual and economic security in an era of health vulnerability?
• What does health look like in places – and what do citizens want to see from their public sector institutions, employers, businesses, politicians and built environment?
• How can R&D, the life sciences and innovation best support the future needs of both UK health and UK prosperity?

The Commission will draw on definitive mixed methods research, including deliberative work on the people’s priorities for the future of their health, gold standard quantitative research, and sector wide qualitative analysis of the path the UK must now take.

Following four, definitive interim reports, the Commission will publish its final report in 2024. This will be a comprehensive plan towards better health – and on harnessing better health to revitalise the UK’s stumbling economy. The report will be defined by its bold thinking on policy; by its focus on what can be implemented today; and by its vision and links to the what we need in the long-term to ensure health and prosperity for all.