WHO health promotion chief highlights key role of cooperatives in advancing wellbeing

28 April 2025, International Cooperative Alliance

In an interview with the International Cooperative Alliance, Dr Rüdiger Krech, Director of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization (WHO), underscores how cooperatives can be powerful agents of change for healthier, more inclusive societies.

Dr Krech explains how cooperatives, through their work in housing, agriculture, finance, health and other sectors, are uniquely placed to foster community wellbeing by creating environments that promote healthy lifestyles, social belonging and economic equity. “Health is created in everyday life,” he says, “and that has so much to do with cooperatives.”

Read the full interview.