abstract: 'The extraordinary economic growth rates of the twentieth century are

  historically exceptional and a continuation into the future seems

  neither possible nor desirable. Consequently, it is in the interest of

  public health to actively shape a socioeconomic transformation towards a

  system that is not based on growth. ``Degrowth'''' provides coherent

  guidelines for such a system. Combining existing scholarship from the

  degrowth and the public health fields, this paper makes seven

  suggestions for a public health agenda towards sustainable health: (1)

  to develop an index of health status in relation to present and future

  health burden; (2) to reduce the resource burden of medical therapy; (3)

  to translate increased productivity to fewer working hours and more free

  time instead of more income and material consumption; (4) to make use of

  non-conventional knowledge and non-commercial forms of work and product

  exchange; (5) to make knowledge freely available, making use of

  innovative research frameworks such as open source drug research; (6) to

  relocalize economic life and health-related organization and to reshape

  citizen participation and (7) to reduce socio-economic inequality

  through redistribution. Generally, this paper argues that it is time for

  discussions on degrowth to enter the mainstream medical and health

  community and for doctors and other health workers to acknowledge that

  they have a significant role to play and important experience to

  contribute when our societies face the upcoming challenge of

  no-longer-growing economies.'
affiliation: 'Borowy, I (Corresponding Author), Shanghai Univ, Coll Liberal Arts,
  99 Shangda Rd, Shanghai 200444, Peoples R China.

  Borowy, Iris, Shanghai Univ, Coll Liberal Arts, 99 Shangda Rd, Shanghai 200444,
  Peoples R China.

  Aillon, Jean-Louis, Univ Genoa, Cattedra Antropol, Via Balbi 4, I-16126 Genoa, Italy.'
author: Borowy, Iris and Aillon, Jean-Louis
author-email: borowyiris@i.shu.edu.cn
author_list:
- family: Borowy
  given: Iris
- family: Aillon
  given: Jean-Louis
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1057/s41285-017-0032-7
eissn: 1477-822X
files: []
issn: 1477-8211
journal: SOCIAL THEORY \& HEALTH
keywords: 'public health; degrowth; drug production; social determinants of health;

  equity'
keywords-plus: 'ECONOMIC-GROWTH; RECESSION; PROSPECTS; MEDICINE; DISEASE; MODEL; TIME;

  TOO'
language: English
month: AUG
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '85'
pages: 346-368
papis_id: 4df264a02c791bc624104b88a0f58c42
ref: Borowy2017sustainablehealth
times-cited: '12'
title: 'Sustainable health and degrowth: Health, health care and society beyond the
  growth paradigm'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000410596600006
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '15'
volume: '15'
web-of-science-categories: Social Sciences, Biomedical
year: '2017'