Becca is leading a new piece of work focusing on demystifying the concept of ‘health’.

The work forms part of the the five year, £6.5m Valuing Nature Programme. The Valuing Nature Programme (VNP) is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The report is the second of the VNP’s ‘Demystifying Series‘. The aim of the demystifying series is to ‘bring together experts to explain the key concepts that might cause confusion in the wider Valuing Nature community, and agree on principles of good practice’. The first in the series, led by Ece Ozdemiroglu and Rosie Hails, considered concepts of “Value and Valuation”. You can find the Demystifying Economic Valuation here.

The aims of the Demystifying Health paper are to:

1. Define and discuss the notion(s) of ‘health’ and associated concepts such as wellbeing.
2. Consider the meanings and synergies and/or differences between health promotion (including interventions), public health, health prevention and so on.
3. Briefly map the structure of health services in the UK noting the influence of international drivers. Identify the key (potential) health-environment decision making points.
4. Review the state of health in the UK.
5. Introduce the breadth of health sciences, approaches, metrics etc.
6. Discuss different ways in which health is affected (positively and negatively) by the environment reflecting key bodies of environment related health research (e.g. epidemiology, sociology, psychology, behavioural sciences etc.)

As with the Demystifying Economic Valuation paper we will engage with the wider Valuing Nature Network to clarify the scope, ensure key concepts of relevance and interest to the community are included, contribute to the formulation of the paper, and to consult on the draft versions of the paper. A call for participation will be coming soon!

The work will be completed in the spring of 2018.