Need for countries to build healthier, fairer world post COVID-19: WHO

NEW DELHI: For World Health Day, which was celebrated on Wednesday, April 7, World Health Organisation issued five calls for urgent action to improve health for all people. Within countries, illness and death from COVID-19 have been higher among groups who face discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, and have adverse daily living and working conditions – including humanitarian crises. According to WHO, the pandemic is estimated to have driven between 119 and 124 million more people across the world into extreme poverty last year. There is convincing evidence on the fact that the pandemic has widened gender gaps in employment, where women have been exiting the labour force in greater numbers as compared to men over the past 12 months.

Inequities in people’s living conditions, health services, access to power, money and resources have been long-standing.  The result of which is under-5 mortality rates among children from the poorest households are double that of children from the richest households. Life expectancy for people in low-income countries is 16 years lower than for people in high-income countries. For example, 9 out of 10 deaths globally from cervical cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, commented that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrived amid the existing inequalities in our societies and the gaps in our health systems. Therefore, it is indispensable for all governments to invest in strengthening their health services and to remove the barriers that prevent so many people from using them, so more people have the chance to live healthy lives.

WHO therefore issued the following five calls for action- Accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 technologies between and within countries; Invest in primary health care; Prioritize health and social protection; Build safe, healthy and inclusive neighbourhoods; and Strengthen data and health information systems.

Dr Tedros said that now is the time for the world to invest in health as a motor of development. He said that the world does not need to choose between improving public health, building sustainable societies, ensuring food security and adequate nutrition, tacking climate change and having thriving local economies, when in fact all these vital outcomes go hand in hand.