The Good And Bad News About World Health In 2018
The World Health
Organization has released World Health Statistics for 2018 and the
report contains both encouraging and concerning facts about the health
condition of the world’s populations. Currently,
the global health community tracks some 50
health-related indicators across 7 major topic areas. These are:
·
Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health
·
Infectious diseases
·
Non-communicable diseases and mental health
·
Injuries
and violence
·
Universal health coverage and health systems
·
Environmental risks
·
Health
risks and disease outbreaks
Some Good News
·
The
global under five mortality rate has dropped from 93 per 1,000 live
births to 41 per 1,000 live births in 2016
·
Improving the survival of children 5-14 years is an area of increasing
focus now that more children are surviving to that age
·
The
number of deaths from HIV has been cut almost in half (48%) since 2005
when the number stood at 1.9 million and is now at 1 million.
·
An
estimated 20.9 million people are receiving antiretroviral therapy in
2016 which is slightly more than half (53%) of the people living with
HIV.
·
There
has been a 19% decline in the incidence of TB since 2000.
·
The
widespread use of hepatitis B vaccine has reduced the incidence of new
chronic HBV infections, including prevalence in children under five
which has dropped from 4.7% in the prevaccine era to 1.3% in 2015.
·
Mass or
individual treatment for neglected tropical diseases was required for
500 million fewer persons in 2016 compared to 2010 driven by the
elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Cambodia, onchocerciasis in
Guatemala, and trachoma in Morocco.
·
The risk
of dying from any one of the four main non-communicable diseases (NCDs)(cardiovascular
disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes) between the
ages of 30 and 70 dropped from 22% in 2000 to 18% in 2016.
·
The
number of deaths from unintentional poisonings has steadily declined
since 2000
Some Health Challenges
·
Household air pollution caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths from
NCDs and outside air pollution caused and additional estimated 4.2
million deaths worldwide. Together they caused 1 in 8 deaths in 2016.
·
In 2015,
an estimated 303,000 women worldwide died due to maternal causes,
almost two-thirds of them in the African region.
·
15,000
children died before reaching their fifth birthday every day in 2016
.
·
In 2016, 1 million persons died of HIV related illnesses.
·
In 2016,
an estimated 41 million deaths occurred due to NCDs, accounting for
71% of the overall total of 57 million deaths.
·
Road
traffic crashes killed 1.25 million people worldwide in 2013 and
injured up to 50 million more.
·
An
estimated 477,000 murders occurred globally in 2016, most of them
male, and the highest rate by far was in the Americas region.
·
At least
half of the world’s population does not have full coverage of
essential health services
The
World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva in May will discuss these
challenges and accelerate progress towards the sustainable development
goals. A new work program is the result of 12 months of intensive
discussion with countries, experts and partners, and centers on the
“triple billion” targets:
-
1 billion more
people benefiting from universal health coverage
-
1 billion more
people better protected from health emergencies
-
1 billion more
people enjoying better health and well-being.
To access the report for 2018, use the following link:
https://tinyurl.com/y8rwczhh
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