A silent disruption of population health and human potential is causing a decline in economic growth and increased poverty worldwide. The number of citizens losing trust in leaders from public-private partnerships that ruled and mandated public health and climate policies and are responsible for eroding human capital is rising. Recovery via improved investments is urgently needed. Creating healthy generations and rebuilding a flourishing economy both require trusted independent business leaders from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who uphold finding truth and not doing harm as bedrock principles. Human Capital is the Key Driver of Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Every business leader and politician knows that absence and poor mental health drain business. The true problem business leaders need to face is the increase in unexpected deaths at all ages, a rise in frequent and long-term sick leave, and more people experiencing lifelong disabilities. Together, they lead to a considerable loss in productivity and high costs, a rise in bankruptcy of small and medium enterprises, and an increasing number of people in poverty. Analysis of a Covid-19 Policy Score Card in the US shows a negative health effect for about 10% of the population and 30% of the civilian labor force. Business analysts are warning that this alarming negative trend is expected to continue over the next several years. Moreover, those under 25 years of age, who will make up 90% of the prime-age workforce in 2050, experienced at critical moments in the lifecycle a derailing of developments by lockdowns and school closures. This amounted to a hidden but massive loss of unmet potential with a decline in lifetime earnings as high as $21 trillion globally. The economic loss by the disastrous Covid-19 pandemic response and unneeded climate measures will exceed far beyond the $16 trillion virus . Soon, human capital will be the number one topic in risk management for business owners and investors for years to come. Skyrocketing Sickness Hits the Heart of Business Sickness hasn’t been this prevalent in decades. Independent investigators and insurance companies all point to similar observations, noticing a sharp decline in general health and well-being and an increase in sudden unexpected deaths of people in the workforce since 2021. According to Randstad 1.27 million employees miss work every day. The absenteeism rate rose to 6% in Q3 2023. The growing number of people not able to work because of long-term illness is reflected in the economic data of many countries. Moreover, mental health problems among the youth have almost doubled. Insurance companies in various EU countries, the UK, and the US have started to sound the alarm bell over the risk of recession and an increasing number of businesses that face bankruptcy due to high costs of human capital and poor performance. Switzerland Switzerland had a previous low sick leave rate of 2.4 days per year. This has changed. In the Swiss economy, absence from work due to mental illness has reached a record level and is 20% higher as compared to the previous year. Never have absences due to mental illness, burnout, post-traumatic stress syndrome, fatigue syndrome, or Long Covid syndrome been this high, with young people affected disproportionately. In the 18-24 age group, seven out of 10 people who are unable to work suffer from mental illness. This is four times higher than 25 years ago. These data reflect a structural trend. A survey by AXA Insurance among SME found that almost two-thirds are confronted with absenteeism due to mental health issues. Workplace absenteeism weighs heavily on the activities of companies. Extended employee absences can have detrimental consequences for the company’s operation. Among the most frequent repercussions are overtime and increased workload from the remaining staff (54%), costs related to recruiting additional personnel (38%), loss of production or failures in services (37%), and costs related to continuous salary payments. Germany Germany’s true economic disease, recession , includes rising sickness and declining productivity. In 2023 each employee had 19.4 days of sickness leave, almost equal to one month per employee and two times higher than in 2010. The highest increase was observed in 2022 and 2023. Filling open vacancies has become a headache for each business owner.

The news that Northern China is dealing with a mystery pneumonia outbreak in children was headlined in many news outlets worldwide. Chinese health officials failed to alert the world about a former novel coronavirus outbreak in 2003 (SARS) and 2019 (SARS-CoV-2). The WHO has stated: Chinese authorities claimed there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens or unusual critical presentations so far, but only multiple known pathogens.