The transformative impact of universal basic income – a powerful equaliser of health, human potential and social progress

European Health Forum at Gastein

Gastein, Austria, 4 October 2017

video link

The World Health Organization (WHO), the public health agency of the United Nations, organized the European Health Forum at Gastein(EHFG) to explore strategies to improve health and well-being in accordance with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

I delivered one of three keynote lectures at a forum on the social and economic determinants of health, titled “Transformative approaches for equity and resilience – Harnessing the 2030 Agenda for health & well-being”(webpage), defending the idea of basic income as a democratic response to the inefficacy and dysfunctionality of present systems of welfare. The presentation helped to spur discussion and debate about basic income among members of WHO. After the EHFG I was invited to serve as an expert advisor to WHO’s EuropeanHealth Equity Status Reportinitiative (see “Engagement Activities”