Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards, a key partner in the Invest4Health (I4H) project representing Bangor University, has published a forward-looking editorial in the Global Health Economics and Sustainability journal. Drawing on her 35-year career, Professor Edwards calls for a significant shift in health economics—from a narrow focus on healthcare services to a more “transdisciplinary” approach. This involves collaborating across economics, public health, climate science, and the social sciences to address our most pressing health challenges. These include climate change, growing health inequalities, and the impacts of unhealthy food systems and rising obesity.
The editorial emphasises that prevention remains seriously underfunded across Europe, despite strong evidence of its long-term benefits. Edwards argues that to address these complex challenges, we need to move beyond small-scale cost-effectiveness studies. Instead, we should focus on broader, system-level modelling and cross-sector collaboration, supported by new and innovative ways of financing.
This vision closely matches the goals of the Invest4Health project. I4H aims to test and develop new financial models for funding health promotion and disease prevention, particularly at the local level. Through the project, Edwards and her I4H colleagues co-develop Smart Capacitating Investment (SCI) models—practical tools for financing sustainable, community-based health solutions. The project brings together experts from economics, public health, policy, and finance, and is grounded in real-world testbeds. These models are designed to be scalable through a social franchising approach. Citizen and patient voices also play an essential role in shaping this work.
The editorial strongly supports Invest4Health’s mission: to transform the way health promotion and prevention are funded and to dismantle the structural, economic, and social barriers that hinder better long-term health outcomes for all.
Professor Edwards also advocates for a “well-becoming” approach—investing in people’s health from early life and throughout the life course. This aligns with I4H’s focus on building local skills, involving communities, and co-creating solutions that improve health and reduce inequalities. She urges health economists to look beyond individual treatments and services and to focus more on big-picture issues at the population level. Rather than only assessing individual healthcare interventions, Edwards argues that health economists should use broader data and advanced methods, such as causal inference and distributional cost-effectiveness analysis, to understand how social and environmental factors like poverty, housing, and pollution affect health outcomes across different population groups.
Her editorial reflects a growing global understanding: to respond to today’s public health threats effectively, we need to work across disciplines, shift investments upstream toward prevention, and create policies that reflect the complexity of people’s real lives. She also highlights the need for new financial approaches to prevention, especially in countries with limited public budgets.
This directly supports Invest4Health’s mission to develop Smart Capacitating Investment (SCI) models that combine public, private, and community-based resources to improve population health over the long term.
As the Invest4Health project moves into its final phase, ending in mid-2026, Professor Edwards’ editorial offers a clear vision of the legacy the project aims to leave behind: a new, prevention-focused, and transdisciplinary economic model that promotes healthier, fairer, and more sustainable societies.
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