Social Marketing: A Pathway to Reduce the Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases in Pakistan

Abstract

In developing countries like Pakistan, social issues have kept the developmental activities back and persistently aggravated the hardships of common people. This, in turn, undermines to take new initiative and is one of the major impediments to developing an enterprising workforce. This article discusses the importance of marketing to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) from a social marketing perspective, NCDs approximately cause four million deaths annually. Pakistan is a signatory of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promoting good health is the heart of achieving and delivering on 2030 sustainable development agenda. Efforts to reduce obesity so far are not successful despite several measures taken globally. This paper seeks the efficacy of social marketing using group-centered approaches to reduce the economic burden of noncommunicable diseases. The efficacy of group-centered approaches in the context of social marketing was explored to address social and health issues confronted by various countries.