Why in News?
The World Health Statistics 2023 was recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
About the World Health Statistics
The report is an annual compilation of health and health-related indicators, which has been published by the WHO since 2005.
The World Health Statistics reports present the most recent health statistics for the WHO Member States and each edition supersedes the previous one.
Read also:- Digital Health Summit 2023
The Enormous Death Toll
According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 20 million deaths. At the end of 2021, it is estimated that 14.9 million excess deaths can be attributed to the pandemic. These staggering figures far exceed the official death counts reported, indicating the gravity of the situation.
Read also:- National Clean Air Program
Stagnating progress calls for acceleration
More recent trends show signs of slowdown in the annual rate of reduction (ARR) for many indicators. For example, the global maternal mortality ratio needs to decline by 11.6% per year between 2021 and 2030 to meet the SDG target.
Similarly, the net reduction in TB incidence from 2015 to 2021 was only one-fifth of the way to the 2025 milestone of WHO’s End TB Strategy.
Despite a reduction in exposure to many health risks — such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, violence, unsafe water and sanitation, and child stunting — progress was inadequate and exposure to some risks such as air pollution remains high.
Read also:- World Day for Safety and Health at Work
Alarmingly, the prevalence of obesity is rising with no immediate sign of reversal.
Furthermore, expanded access to essential health services has slowed compared to pre-2015 gains, coupled with no significant progress in reducing financial hardship due to health-care costs. This drastically limits our ability to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is an important reminder that progress is neither linear nor guaranteed,” warns Dr Samira Asma,
WHO Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact. “To stay on track towards the 2030 SDG agenda, we must act decisively and collectively to deliver a measurable impact in all countries.”
This year’s report includes for the first time a dedicated section on climate change and health, and we anticipate that
this will be of more relevance in the report going forward. For this issue and all other areas timely, reliable,
disaggregated data are critical to track progress and improve national and global health policies.
Read also:- The Limits To Sourcing Russian Oil
World Health Statistics 2023, World Health Statistics 2023
