At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2013 there was anticipation mixed with some trepidation about the level of fortitude leaders would bring to the essential task of reducing chronic illness and promoting healthy living. Certainly, the motivation is there – 36 million lives lost every year and millions more disabled or compromised by chronic illness – but there is work to do to turn talk into action.

Despite excellent progress over the past year in drafting the Healthy Living Charter, obstacles such as short-termism, self-interest and fear of transparency have been slowing the transition to meaningful solutions across the public and private sectors and civil society.

At a session last week titled “From Tabloid to Tablet,” we heard perspectives on the turbulent world of journalism from leaders of Google, Thompson Reuters, the Financial Times, Business Insider and Al Arabiya, among others.

Most interesting to me was the advice to fellow journalists from Jeff Jarvis, former big-time editor, best-selling author, creator of BuzzMachine and all-around provocateur.

Ketchum is dedicated to giving back to our communities on both a local and a global scale. As part of the ongoing exploration of emerging social responsibility models, last night I accepted an invitation to a dinner to learn more about a relatively new organization called Global Dignity. The dinner was hosted by the organization’s co-founder, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, whom I met three years ago in Davos, and Christina Alfonso, Global Dignity’s Managing Director.

Global Dignity’s mission is to empower people with dignity. They help youth and adults to become their best selves so they can go on to help others to achieve the same. The organization conducts Dignity Days, in which facilitators ask children – ranging from disadvantaged children in developing countries to children recovering from terrible experiences in war zones to children in developed countries who are victims of bullying – to tell their stories and define dignity in their own words.

In this season of new year resolutions, you may think that the biggest obstacles to healthy living are lack of willpower, a lack of time to exercise and a love of cheese, pasta and good wine. OK, those are my obstacles.

However, at the more serious global policy level, the real obstacles to reducing chronic illness and promoting healthy living are short-termism, self-interest and the fear of transparency. This week in Davos we hope to diminish the power of each.

It is sad to watch the pervasiveness of short-termism among government officials and corporate leaders. Many elected officials focus their energy on positions that will get them re-elected in two years or four years. Some chief executive officers seem to have affection only for initiatives that will deliver this quarter’s or this year’s performance.