The first step in solving any problem is recognizing you have one. To equip governments with the tools to name and track the imbalance between medical and social spending, they need a new metric:

The ratio between spending on medical care, and spending on the social conditions that shape health.

All governments can use this tool to track and publicly report on how they are investing in health — not just treating illness and injury, but also the supports and services that help prevent sickness and promote and sustain good health.

Understanding medical spending relative to spending on the social conditions that shape health should become a standard and central part of budgets and fiscal reporting. When this balance is made visible, governments can make more informed decisions about protecting medical care while restoring investment where health begins.

This won't just make a difference around cabinet tables. It matters for you too. 

Studies of the social-to-medical spending ratio consistently highlight the positive consequences of directing a larger share of governmental spending to social services than to medical care. Higher social spending is linked to improved physical and mental health outcomes in critical areas, like reducing avoidable deaths, reducing infant mortality, and increasing life expectancy.