How will health be defined in the future? And what role does the Covid-19 pandemic play? An overview on opportunities and challenges.
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Shifting the focus from disease to wellbeing – since the beginning of the new millennium at the latest, health has become a mega trend. Being „not sick“ was not enough anymore, people wanted to feel well and healthy all around. Accordingly, the concept of health had many dimensions: Physiological as well as psychological, functional and emotional, optimizing instead of regulating and rather positivistic than driven by fear. “Disease” as an opponent to health hardly played a role anymore.
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COVID-19 redefines health
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, disease is suddenly omnipresent again. On one hand, health is seen in a more traditional way. On the other hand, the crisis leads to an expansion of the concept with phenomena such as social distancing. Health goes beyond the own self. The playing field gets larger, because social and contextual aspects are added to the physiological and psychological components of health.
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Quo vadis, health?
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The „new health“ presents multiple opportunities. This can be an advantage for brands from different industries, that are the first to get active and to offer credible benefits addressing new needs.
Pharmaceutical companies also need to rethink their position: In the context of the discussions around the vaccines, they are more strongly perceived and judged as brands.
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Conclusion