Global Health Promotion Forum

Global Health Issues

Multi-national companies with global health promotion programs are facing similar challenges throughout the world:

  • rise in chronic disease: e.g., diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental disorders
  • increasing health care costs
  • aging employee population
  • changing employment patterns
  • increasing global competition and demand for increased productivity
  • the growing significance of corporate social responsibility.

This has led a number of innovative companies to adopt global health management strategies which are designed to create healthier and more productive employees everywhere in the world. Developing global delivery strategies and policies poses many new challenges:

  • communication problems
  • lack of international and in-country resources
  • different cultures
  • global standards
  • varying delivery systems
  • quality control and evaluation
  • lack of reliable information.


The Corporate Forum will discuss solutions to these challenges by sharing with colleagues which have similar responsibilities and through presentations by experts on cutting edge issues.

For example, the following questions have been addressed during the interactive forum in the past:

  • How do we address the dramatic increase in mental disorders (and suicides) at our East Asian sites (Japan, Korea, Taiwan & China)?
  • What barriers should we anticipate with the implementation of a global smoke-free policy?
  • Do our international sites measure health risks? How common are health risk assessments?
  • How do we measure the effectiveness of our programs in countries where we dont have to pay for health care?
  • What issues do we need to focus on first when starting a global program?