"Rethinking Sustainable Development: The Economic, Social and Environmental Value Behind the Health Sector" Summit was held with a wide participation which was organized by Istanbul Medipol University, Novartis and Swiss Embassy

The press conference on "Rethinking Sustainable Development: Social, Environmental, Economic Value Behind the Health Sector" was held at JW Marriott Hotel hosted by Altan Demirdere, President of Novartis Group Türkiye, with the participation of Jean Daniel Ruch, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ankara, and Prof. Dr. Burcu Yavuz Tiftikçigil, Director of Istanbul Medipol University Sustainable Development Application and Research Center. 
In his speech at the meeting, Demirdere emphasized that while the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) is changing the dynamics of the global economy, businesses and country administrations have also realized the importance of economic growth focused on environmental and social benefits.

Stating that Novartis prepared Health Economics Reporting (HER) and Social, Environmental and Economic (SEE) Impact Assessment, Demirdere also shared the outputs obtained from the reports.

Stating that Health Economics Reporting calculates each contribution on the value chain and the efficiency of investments separately, Demirdere emphasized that according to the results of the report prepared by the German Wifor Institute for 190 countries including Türkiye, the share of health expenditures in GNP in Türkiye is 4.4 percent, which is less than half of the world average of 9.9 percent.

Noting that Novartis has developed an approach method that enables the measurement of the impacts of business activities on society and the environment in the last 3 years, Demirdere said, "This is called Social, Environmental and Economic Impact Assessment."

Demirdere emphasized that Novartis Türkiye's "social impact" according to the results of the impact assessment in 2020 was 2.4 billion dollars and stated that more than 12.5 million patients were reached. Stating that their negative impact on the environment is 28 million dollars, Demirdere said, "5.5 million dollars of the negative environmental impact is created by Novartis' own operations and the remaining amount is created by the supply chain. Our total contribution to GNP was 359 million dollars. 1655 employees were employed and contributed to the creation of 5,661 jobs in different industries. Our total social, environmental and economic (SEE) impact was 2.3 billion dollars."

Demirdere noted that as a pharmaceutical company that has been both manufacturing and exporting in Türkiye since 1955, they are proud to increase their social and economic contributions and to serve for the health of citizens.
 

"We need multilateral co-operation"

Prof. Dr. Burcu Yavuz Tiftikçigil said that sustainable development goals are a global call for action to end poverty, protect the environment, take measures against the climate crisis, and ensure fair sharing of welfare and peace.

Tiftikçigil stated that health economics was previously seen by economists as an area where only "cost-benefit analysis" was carried out and said, "However, the triggered effect of health economics is very high. For this reason, unfortunately, we have all experienced the impact of a deterioration in health in the world. We cannot 
think of the health sector as a normal goods and services market. It is a labor-intensive market and technology has a very important place here. It is a market with no substitutes. We definitely cannot postpone health services."

Stating that the monetary outputs of health services cannot be calculated and that the social and environmental outputs are much stronger and virtuous, Tiftikçigil said, "We need multilateral cooperation to develop sustainable development goals. Awareness needs to be raised."