Bringing ‘Health’ into ESG (‘ESHG’) to enhance health and economic resilience for a better future.
Business for Health is a business-led social venture supporting long-term sustainable innovation and investment in preventative health and care. Its aim is to enhance the health and economic resilience of the UK, catalysing and facilitating business contributions to enhance healthy life expectancy and reduce health & wellbeing inequalities.
Improving workforce health
Business for Health collaborated with the CBI on the Work Health Index launched in November 2022, supported by the NHS and government. Click the button below to access the tool.
Supported by world leaders
“I am delighted that Business for Health is being formed – as employers, investors and innovators, business will make vital contributions to reduce future pandemic risks through prevention, improve healthy life expectancy and build economic resilience in communities across our nation. If this pandemic has taught us anything it's that our health and prosperity are completely interlinked. I look forward to working with them in the future.”
— Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Former Secretary of State for Health and Care
“Covid-19 illustrates how important it is to prevent the development of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease through healthy lifestyles. We live in a completely obesogenic environment. In order to have a better future for everybody, we need to not only work on our own health but also respect the health of the planet. A risk management framework for health like we have in place for climate change seems essential.”
— Professor Baron Peter Piot KCMG, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Founding Executive Director of UNAIDS; Special Advisor to the EU on research and innovation for Covid-19
“Absolutely crucial what you are starting.”
— Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, Co-Founder of Imagine, a business collective for global systems change
Maximising business contribution to enhance healthy life expectancy and reduce health & wellbeing inequalities
Backed by leading organisations
“Business for Health will be a powerful voice giving insight and a diversity of views to the Longevity Council. I look forward to working with the Business Coalition members to help inform the shape of the Age Grand Challenge.”
— Andy Briggs, CEO of Phoenix Group,
“The Business Coalition will highlight the positive role that businesses have in promoting healthy ageing and addressing inequalities - as innovators offering the services and products that support people to remain active, independent and socially connected for longer, and as employers who see the benefits that an age-diverse workforce brings.”
— George MacGinnis, Healthy Living Director, UK Research and Innovation
“It is in businesses’ interests to support a healthier population. At its simplest level, a healthier workforce is more productive – physical and mental health problems are expensive for employers. But for almost every sector, achieving better population health creates opportunities and drives economic activity. This was true before the pandemic and has now been sadly demonstrated beyond doubt.”
— John Godfrey, Corporate Affairs Director, Legal & General (former)
Mobilising a coalition of socially responsible employers, businesses and investors
Informed by rigorous research
In October 2023 Business for Health started its research programme for the NIHR Work and Health Development Award involving a consortium of 15 organisations. The research programme is geared to address the complex issues presented by the rising number of people leaving the workforce due to ill health is a local and national priority. Our ambition is to understand the diversity of health intervention pathways in order to deliver integrated and resilient care by investing in workforce health sustainably, as part of a system change approach across the three pillars of the Business Framework for Health (workforce health, consumer health- including diet/food- and community health- including role of supermarkets in the community to shape positive health behaviors and practices, such as health checks announced recently by government).
Guided by our ethical principles
Business for Health wants to engage the business community who have pledged commitment to enhance healthy life expectancy while minimising health & wellbeing inequalities in critical projects including the Business Index and ESHG framework to measure and incentivise positive contributions and reduce harms.
Funding partners or other donors to B4H make their donations either for B4H’s general corporate purposes or they may be for specific projects. Donations are subject to a clause which gives independent control of the content of funded projects to the Board of B4H, not the funder(s).
Our principles that guide our practice, operations and behaviour are as follows:
Engage businesses that aspire to do no harm and benefit all by committing to the HLE+5 pledge and improving their performance
Conduct our work in a way that shows people and places matter
Act transparently, embedding data and evidence wherever possible to measure progress and incentivise improvement
Work together in a spirit of collaboration- with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another to maximise the success of delivering our mission
Act with credibility and integrity with commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
Supporting long-term sustainable innovation and investment in preventative health and care.
Join now
There are a number of membership options to explore. Download the membership proposal here and join now.