The World Health Organization has listed the urgent health challenges that must be addressed globally in the next decade.
This was included in the global health challenges published on Monday, in collaboration with its experts worldwide, and signed by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The list contains 13 global concerns as follows:
Equity in health care: The “persistent and growing” socioeconomic gaps that result in large disparities in people’s health quality are also an urgent challenge. Not only is there an 18-year difference in life expectancy between rich and poor countries, but there is also a marked gap within countries and even within cities, notes the WHO. The WHO is working with its partners to improve maternal and child health, nutrition, gender equality, mental health, and access to adequate water and sanitation. The WHO has called on countries to allocate an additional 1% of their gross domestic product to primary health care so that more people can access the essential, quality services they need.
Expanding access to medicines: Around one-third of the world’s population lacks access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and other health products. Limited access to quality health products threatens health and lives and contributes to drug resistance. WHO is working with countries to expand access to medicines, combat substandard and counterfeit medical products, strengthen the capacity of low-income countries to ensure the quality of medical products throughout the supply chain, and improve access to diagnosis and treatment of noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes.
Infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and sexually transmitted infections will claim the lives of approximately four million people in 2020, most of them poor. Meanwhile, vaccine-preventable diseases continue to kill, including measles, which claimed 140,000 lives in 2019. Polio is also once again a concern, with 156 cases of wild poliovirus last year, the highest number since 2014. There is an urgent need for greater political will and increased funding for essential health services and strengthened routine immunization, says the WHO.
Preparing for Epidemics: A pandemic of a new, highly infectious airborne virus—most likely a strain of influenza to which most people lack immunity—is inevitable, according to the WHO. And vector-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever are spreading as mosquito populations move into new areas, fueled by climate change, the WHO says. “Countries invest heavily in protecting their people from terrorist attacks, but not against an attack by a virus, which could be far more deadly and far more damaging economically and socially. A pandemic could bring economies and nations to their knees,” said Ghebreyesus. The WHO is working to advise countries on evidence-based investments to strengthen health systems and infrastructure to keep populations safe when health emergencies occur.
Dangerous Products: Food insecurity, unsafe food, and unhealthy diets are responsible for almost a third of the global burden of disease. The WHO is working with countries to develop evidence-based public policies, investments, and private sector reforms to reshape food systems and provide healthy and sustainable diets. Last year, the food industry pledged to eliminate trans fats by 2023, but more is needed. The WHO also cites growing health risks from e-cigarettes. The agency is working with countries to build political commitment and capacity to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based tobacco control policies.
Investing in the People Who Care for Our Health: Another challenge is the global shortage of health workers. The world will need 18 million more health workers by 2030, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, including nine million nurses and midwives. To spur action and encourage investment in education, skills, and jobs, the World Health Assembly has designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. WHO and its partners will release a comprehensive report on the global state of nursing on World Health Day in April and are working with countries to stimulate new investments to train health workers and pay them living wages.
Keeping Adolescents Safe: More than one million adolescents aged 10–19 die each year. The main causes are road traffic accidents, HIV, suicide, lower respiratory infections, and interpersonal violence. Harmful use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, lack of physical activity, unprotected sex, and prior exposure to child maltreatment increase the risk of these causes of death. In 2020, WHO will issue new guidance for policymakers, health professionals, and educators designed to promote adolescent mental health and prevent drug and alcohol use, self-harm, and interpersonal violence, as well as provide young people with information on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, contraception, and care during pregnancy and childbirth.
Building Public Trust : Public health is compromised by the uncontrolled spread of misinformation on social media, as well as by the erosion of trust in public institutions. The anti-vaccination movement has been a significant factor in the rise in deaths from preventable diseases, says the WHO. The WHO is working with countries to strengthen primary health care so that people can easily access effective and affordable services from people they know and trust in their own communities. The agency is working with popular social media platforms to ensure that their users receive reliable information about vaccines and other health issues.
Leveraging New Technologies : New technologies, such as genome editing and artificial intelligence, are revolutionizing the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat many diseases, but they also raise new questions and challenges for monitoring and regulation. In 2019, WHO established new advisory committees for human genome editing and digital health, bringing together the world’s leading experts to review the evidence and provide guidance. WHO is also working to help countries plan for, adopt, and benefit from new tools that offer clinical and public health solutions, while supporting better regulation of their development and use.
Antimicrobial resistance: The rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a persistent and urgent challenge that threatens to send modern medicine back decades to the pre-antibiotic era. WHO is working with national and international authorities in the environment, agriculture, and animal sectors to reduce the threat of AMR by addressing its root causes, while also advocating for research and development of new antibiotics.
Clean water, sanitation, and hygiene: Approximately one in four health facilities worldwide lacks basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, which are critical for a functioning health system. The lack of these basic elements in health facilities leads to poor-quality care and a higher likelihood of infection for both patients and health workers. WHO and its partners are working with 35 low- and middle-income countries to improve WASH services in their health facilities. The global target is for all countries to have integrated WASH services into their plans, budgets, and implementation efforts by 2023, and for all health facilities globally to have basic WASH services by 2030. “With the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline fast approaching, the UN General Assembly has underlined that the next 10 years must be the ‘decade of action,’” said Tedros. “This means advocating for national funding to address gaps in health systems and health infrastructure, as well as providing support to the most vulnerable countries. Investing now will save lives, and money, later. The cost of inaction is one we cannot afford,” he said.
“Governments, communities, and international agencies must work together to achieve these critical goals. There are no shortcuts to a healthier world. 2030 is fast approaching, and we must hold our leaders accountable for their commitments,” Tedros added.
Providing health in conflict and crisis. In 2019, most disease outbreaks requiring the highest level of WHO response occurred in countries experiencing protracted conflict. We also saw the continuation of a disturbing trend in which health workers and facilities are targeted. WHO recorded 978 attacks on health care in 11 countries last year, with 193 deaths. At the same time, conflict is forcing a record number of people to flee their homes, leaving tens of millions with little access to health care, sometimes for years. Last year, WHO responded to 58 emergencies in 50 countries. We deployed mobile medical teams, improved disease detection and alert systems, conducted immunization campaigns, distributed medicines, and trained health workers. The WHO is working to save lives and prevent suffering by working with countries and partners to strengthen health systems, improve preparedness, and expand the availability of long-term contingency funding for complex health emergencies. But health is only one part of the equation. Ultimately, we need political solutions to resolve protracted conflicts, stop neglecting weaker health systems, and protect health workers and facilities from attacks.
Elevating Health in the Climate Debate: The climate crisis is a health crisis. Air pollution kills approximately 7 million people each year, while climate change leads to more extreme weather events, exacerbates malnutrition, and fuels the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria. The same emissions that cause global warming are responsible for more than a quarter of all deaths from heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases. Leaders in the public and private sectors must work together to clean our air and mitigate the health impacts of climate change. In 2019, more than 80 cities in over 50 countries committed to WHO air quality guidelines and agreed to align their climate and air pollution policies. This year, WHO will work to develop a set of policy options for governments to prevent or reduce the health risks of air pollution.
From: https://punchng.com/who-lists-urgent-health-challenges-for-the-next-decade/