Society will be healthier

• Society can save money on health care budgets

• It will improve life expectancy

• It will improve the economy

Responses to this question vary. As outlined below, some believe that altruistically, society should pursue disease prevention to improve health and save money.  These are noble goals, but I will demonstrate later that prevention does not always save money.  The desire to prevent NCDs probably is a repercussion of our efforts to prevent infectious diseases.  We have had great success in preventing communicable diseases.  This has led to an initiative to prevent NCDs.