Principles for interventions based on a life course approach

Six core principles essential for operationalizing a life course approach, include:

• person-centredness;
• health equity;
• early/temporal action;
• appropriate evidence-based action;
• collaboration across generations and sectors; and
• continuity across all life stages.

These principles provide the foundation for designing interventions that build and sustain physical and mental capacities and people’s abilities to experience well-being. Life course interventions are most effective when they cut across systems and align with people’s lived experiences. This requires strong governance, multisectoral partnerships and data-informed decisions. The operational application of these principles can transform fragmented health services into proactive, integrated systems that are reoriented to produce health.