A social enterprise says the ambulance at-the bottom-of-the-cliff approach to medical treatment is not going to improve health outcomes in New Zealand.
Grant Schofield, co-founder of PreKure, hosted a conference on preventative medicine for health professionals in Auckland on Friday and Saturday.
"Living longer, not better, is a critical issue facing our healthcare system today,” he said.
Life expectancy has increased, but overall wellbeing has been compromised.
Lowering demand
“Unhealthy behaviours are continuing to fuel disease and putting overwhelming strain on our healthcare systems.
“It’s no secret that we’re experiencing a critical and growing shortage of healthcare professionals in New Zealand, who are simply unable to cope with the growing burden of chronic disease and mental health challenges we’re facing."
Scofield said the best solution for the public health system would involve lowering demand in the first place by focusing on preventative medicine.
He created PreKure with his wife, Louise, who believes overprescribing medication offers little or no benefit and prevention is the cure.
The team at PreKure created The Future of Medicine conference to revolutionise healthcare in NZ.
'Vision'
Louise Scofield said: “We believe that we can eliminate the overprescribing of medication and have the medical community embrace lifestyle medicine. And that’s a vision we believe is worth fighting for.”
According to PreKure's 2023 Social Impact Report:
- Globally, obesity levels have nearly tripled since 1975, with 39% of adults overweight and 13% obese.
- The number of cancer cases is predicted to rise by 47% from 2020 to 2040.
- Type 2 diabetes cases will continue to surge. It's expected to affect 578 million people by 2030.
- Dementia cases are escalating and are forecast to triple to 152m by 2050.
