Our vision and history

Our vision

Imagine a world where people are not dying from preventable chronic disease…

…because they find it easier to live healthy lives.

Our history

That was the dream of our founder and current director, Christine Hancock, when she started C3 Collaborating for Health in 2009. 

Christine enjoyed an illustrious career in nursing, including many years as the CEO of the Royal College of Nursing and as president of the International Council of Nurses. But she came to realise that healthcare was intervening too late in a person’s life. This delay meant that people were suffering and dying from illnesses that could have been prevented.

In a time when healthcare was largely equated with disease and sickness, Christine made a bold decision: to shift the focus to prevention and wellbeing by addressing chronic disease before people fall sick or need care.

Our mission  

C3 brings together different communities to create changes that make it easier for people to: 

1. Stop using tobacco
2. Improve what they eat and drink
3. Do more physical activity

Our work

We are pleased to see the increasing global recognition that chronic disease prevention is a critical issue, especially with the inclusion of chronic diseases in the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015.

However, our work has become more urgent as the chronic disease epidemic escalates and health systems buckle under enormous financial demands.

Our expert staff know that only through collaboration can society hope to overcome this public-health crisis.This includes both helping individuals choose more healthy behaviours and making it easier to choose the healthy option within our environments. 

We are known for the breadth of our work and openness to engagement with all sectors, which is evident by our past and current partners and funders. We also specialise in projects with businesses, local communities, workplace health and health professionals.

Are you also concerned about how difficult it is for people to live healthy lives? We’d love to hear from you. Together, we can make it easier to live healthy lives.