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In an official statement, WHO said, “From 2019 to 2021, global life expectancy declined by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, returning to 2012 levels. Similarly, global healthy life expectancy declined by 1.5 years to 61.9 years in 2021, returning to 2012 levels.”
Also read: 324 cases of Singapore’s KP.1, KP.2 variants of Covid-19 reported in India, Maharashtra has highest number of cases at 148
The 2024 report also highlights the uneven impact felt across the world, with regions such as the Americas and Southeast Asia bearing the brunt, seeing significant declines of around 3 years in life expectancy and 2.5 years in healthy life expectancy between 2019 and 2021.
Meanwhile, the Western Pacific region saw minimal impacts during the first two years of the pandemic, with healthy life expectancy lost between 0.1 years and 0.2 years, respectively.
“Great progress continues to be made in global health, with billions of people enjoying better health, better access to services, and greater protection from health emergencies,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
Also read: Fear of wave as Covid-19 cases rise in Singapore
“But we must remember how fragile progress can be. In just two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out a decade of gains in life expectancy. That’s why the new pandemic pact is so important: not only to strengthen global health security, but to protect long-term investments in health and promote equity within and between countries,” Ghebreyesus said.
Health Challenges
The report also highlights the significant health challenges faced by persons with disabilities, refugees, and migrants. In 2021, approximately 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the global population, had disabilities. This group is disproportionately affected by health inequalities that result from avoidable, unjust, and unfair situations.
The report also highlights the major barriers to health faced by people with disabilities, refugees and migrants.
In 2021, around 1.3 billion people, representing 16% of the global population, were living with a disability.
Triple Billion Goal
100 billion targets and health-related indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
More than 1.5 billion people have experienced better health and wellbeing since 2018. However, WHO said progress is being hampered by challenges such as rising obesity rates, high tobacco use and persistent air pollution.
Universal health coverage has expanded to more than 585 million people, although this is short of the one billion target. Furthermore, only 777 million more individuals are expected to be adequately protected during health emergencies by 2025, failing to meet the one billion target outlined in WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work.
“Although we have made progress towards the Triple Billion Goals since 2018, there is still much to be done. Data is WHO’s superpower. We need to use it better to have more impact in countries,” said Dr. Samira Asma, WHO Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Impact Delivery. “Without accelerating progress, it is unlikely that any of the health SDGs will be met by 2030.”
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Published: May 25, 2024, 12:09 PM IST
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