WHO: People living longer but Covid-19 threatens to throw progress off track

All over the world, the Covid-19 pandemic is causing significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods, and threatening the recent advances in health and progress towards global development goals highlighted in the 2020 World Health Statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) today

“The good news is that people around the world are living longer and healthier lives. The bad news is the rate of progress is too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and will be further thrown off track by Covid-19,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said.

The biggest gains were reported in low-income countries, which saw life expectancy rise 21 percent or 11 years between 2000 and 2016 (compared with an increase of 4 percent or 3 years in higher income countries). But in a number of areas, progress has been stalling. Immunization coverage has barely increased in recent years. In 2016, 70 percent of all deaths worldwide were attributable to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) with the majority of deaths (85 percent) occurring in low and middle-income countries.

The inability to pay for healthcare is another major challenge for many. On current trends, WHO estimates that this year, 2020, approximately 1 billion people (almost 13 percent of the global population) will be spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on health care. The majority of these people live in lower middle-income countries.

(WBJ)