Following our year-long Prevention in an ageing world programme that sparked conversations from Abu Dhabi to Taipei, Austin, Geneva, Sydney, London all the way to the G20 Health Ministers, the message is clear:

It’s never too late to prevent ill health. And the health and economic costs of failing to invest in preventative interventions across the life course are simply too high to ignore.

We know that prevention works, but for too long preventative services in health have been the first to be cut and the last to receive investment. In an ageing world, this needs to change.

2020 marks the launch of the WHO’s and UN’s Decade of Healthy Ageing. But we are still a long way off.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought home the urgent need to match commitment with action by:

• Democratising access to prevention
• Inspiring and engaging policymakers, healthcare professionals and individuals around the prevention agenda
• Effectively utilising technology

This leaflet sets out plans for our 2019/ 2020 Delivering prevention in an ageing world programme to move from “why” we ought to promote prevention across the life course to “how” we can deliver it.