About the Event

The U.S. system is fundamentally flawed because it equates health care with medical care. Research has shown that 85% of our overall health is due to factors outside of medical care, such as nutrition, education, freedom from violence, and housing.

If we want a health care system that creates health, we need to understand that the building blocks are both medical and nonmedical. At Nemours Children’s, we call this Whole Child Health.

Investing in child health is the strongest lever we have available to transform the health of all Americans. Healthy behaviors learned in childhood have profound lifelong benefits. Healthy children grow up into healthy adults.

If we can substantially reduce the number of adults who develop chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, Americans will enjoy more high-quality years, our workforce will be more productive, and our economy will be stronger.

Therefore, to effectively address health care, we must tackle the root causes of poor health and health disparities, including the social, economic, behavioral, and environmental factors that affect children and families every day.