Not many of us live quite as healthily as we’d like to, but the challenges to a healthy lifestyle tend to get bigger if and when our economic and social circumstances get worse. And that can tip us into a vicious spiral where health declines and with it opportunities for work and general prosperity. French charity VIF was set up to interrupt that spiral; to support people to make healthy life choices, not through fear or instruction, but by ‘nudging’ them in the right direction. And those nudges are the fruit of scientific exploration of people’s situations, needs and desires; and marketing techniques! Listen to Sophie McGannan talk about the difference VIF has already made, and the organisation’s hopes for the future.