Chronic disease is a crisis not only crippling people but it is also crippling economies. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 60 percent of deaths worldwide in 2005 were due to chronic diseases.

Furthermore, according to the US Center for Disease Control, chronic disease accounts for roughly 75 percent of health care costs in the United States each year.

Heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and obesity are traditionally seen as the scourge of the developed world. What is not yet properly understood is that death rates from chronic diseases are increasingly higher in developing countries, with dramatic effects on loss of national income, robbing families of breadwinners and draining communities of needed expertise.

The WHO estimates that China will lose 558 billion US dollars, India 237 billion dollars and Russia 303 billion dollars in national income from 2005-2015 due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Professor K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, has said that "heart disease is the number one killer throughout India. By 2030, 18 million potentially productive years of life will be lost. We can ill afford this". Recent studies show economic losses in developing countries will threaten the stability of social security systems in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations. So while the problem is local, the impact will be increasingly global.

Yet, there are practical, tangible steps, which can be taken now. The role of the workplace, as integral to addressing the major causes of death and disease in adults, was first recognized by the international AIDS community. Their energy and expertise propelled workplace AIDS programs to the highest levels of government and corporate attention.

There is incredible potential for nearly 3 billion productive people in labor markets around the world to affect change in the workplace. We must now ensure that heart disease, diabetes and cancers – by far the largest contributors to ill health and premature death at work – receive the same attention as the AIDS epidemic.

The private sector has the tools and knowledge to address most major health problems in the workplace. Tobacco cessation programs and smoke free workplaces work; screening and treatment for high blood pressure and cholesterol works; stress management programs work.

The recently completed WHO/World Economic Forum joint report on workplace wellness indicates that workplace programs targeting physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary habits, are effective in reducing the risks for major non-communicable diseases in a cost-effective manner. Further, it highlights key elements for the development of sustainable wellness programs and includes examples of successful programs implemented in countries as diverse as India, Malaysia and the US.

Some steps are simple – such as providing affordable, nutritious foods and access to physical activity – but there are tough problems still to solve and answers will only come through collaborative innovation. For example, a relatively new frontier for wellness is obesity. There is no major success story of reducing obesity levels in a large workplace setting and sustaining it over time. We have yet to pull together our best efforts to simultaneously address the input of calories and working to drive calories out by engaging employees in becoming more physical.

A good company does more than focus only on short term profits – it makes products that responsibly nourish people and societies, minimizes the impact on the environment in which it operates and cherishes its employees. A work environment which enhances health and wellness demonstrates to employees their importance to the company by enabling them to live life to its fullest.

This is a challenge that cannot be tackled just by medical and health services. It will take a companywide effort to make a difference. And for us to sustain the impact it will demand full involvement of the community.

At the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, 15 global CEOs made a call to leaders to strengthen their commitment to employee wellness in the workplace on a global scale. As we look to the coming year, we call on leaders to collaborate and share ideas for cherishing their employees and putting health concerns higher on the corporate agenda worldwide. That will take will, courage and serious investment.

The impact though will be profound for health, for communities and yes, even for nations.

(China Daily February 1, 2008)