World health statistics 2022: monitoring health for the SDGs, sustainable development goals
Introduction
The World health statistics report is the World Health
Organization’s (WHO) annual compilation of health and health-related indicators
for its 194 Member States, which has been published since 2005. The Division of
Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact produces this report, in collaboration
with WHO technical departments and Regional Offices. The 2022 edition reviews
more than 50 health-related indicators from the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and WHO’s Triple Billion targets, with a focus on the impact of the
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Since early 2020, the COVID-19
pandemic has posed a major threat to global health and the functioning of health
systems. Essential health services have experienced widespread disruption due
to pandemic-related social restrictions, high patient caseloads,
under-resourced health facility infrastructures, and shortages of medical
equipment, medicines, diagnostics and staff, with health care workers placed
under an enormous strain.
This report summarizes the impact of COVID-19 on SDG indicators using currently available data. Chapter 1 presents the most recent data on COVID-19 cases, deaths, excess mortality, vaccinations and the pandemic’s impact on essential health services. It also describes key patterns and disparities in the distribution of COVID-19 cases, deaths and vaccine access. Chapter 2 summarizes global and regional trends in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, together with the global burden of diseases and injuries. Chapter 3 presents the latest available data for a wide range of behavioural, environmental and metabolic risk factors that constitute important determinants of health. Chapter 4 focuses on universal health coverage (UHC) and describes recent trends in service coverage and financial protection, as well as key aspects of health systems.
Summary:
- Significant inequalities underpin the distribution of COVID-19 cases and deaths, as well as access to vaccinations. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, including those who are economically disadvantaged, the elderly and people with existing underlying health conditions, and the unvaccinated. Higher risk populations need better protection against severe illness, more transmissible variants of coronavirus and death due to COVID-19 infection. Yet, they remain critically underserved by vaccination programs in many countries.
- The overall gains in life expectancy and HALE reflect profound changes in mortality and morbidity. Indeed, associated inequalities in mortality and morbidity profiles since 2000 are the main drivers for the patterns of life expectancy and HALE. In the past 20 years, gains have been made in maternal and child health, with the global maternal mortality ratio and under-five mortality rate falling by nearly 40% and 60%, respectively, since 2000. Additionally, major investments and improvements in communicable disease programmes, such as those dedicated to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, have led to declines in incidence and mortality for these diseases at the global level. Consequently, the global share of deaths attributable to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) increased from almost 61% in 2000 to almost 74% in 2019. Despite this, communicable diseases were still responsible for nearly one half of all deaths in LICs. Low- and middle-income countries also continue to bear most of the burden of communicable diseases, including TB, HIV, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and hepatitis B. At the current pace of improvement, many indicators––including premature mortality due to NCDs, the incidence of TB, malaria and new HIV infections––will not meet their Sustainable Development Goal targets by 2030.
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