Urgent Action Needed to Tackle Stalled Progress on HealthRelated Sustainable Development Goals

BY PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Geneva: WHO is releasing the 2023 edition of its annual World Health Statistics report with new figures on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the latest statistics on progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report with data up to 2022 underscores a stagnation of health progress on key health indicators in recent years compared with trends seen during 20002015. It also alerts us to the growing threat of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and climate change, and calls for a coordinated and strengthened response.

COVID-19 cost in lost lives and health progress

The report documents updated statistics on the toll of the pandemic on global health, contributing to the ongoing decline in progress towards the SDGs. During 2020-2021, COVID-19 resulted in a staggering 336.8 million years of life lost globally. This equates to an average of 22 years of life lost for every excess death, abruptly and tragically cutting short the lives of millions of people.

Since 2000, we saw significant improvements in maternal and child health with deaths falling by one-third and one-half, respectively. The incidence of infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria also declined, along with a lowered risk of premature deaths from NCDs and injuries. Together, these contributed to an increase in global life expectancy from 67 years in 2000 to 73 years in 2019.

However, the pandemic has put many health-related indicators further off-track and contributed to inequalities in access to high-quality health care, routine immunizations and financial protection. As a result, improving trends in malaria and TB have been reversed, and fewer people were treated for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

“The World Health Statistics is WHO’s annual check-up on the state of the world’s health. The report sends a stark message on the threat of noncommunicable diseases, which take an immense and increasing toll on lives, livelihoods, health systems, communities, economies and societies,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The report calls for a substantial increase in investments in health and health systems to get back on track towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”

NCDs an ever-increasing health threat for future generations

Despite overall health progress, the share of deaths caused annually by NCDs has grown consistently and is now claiming nearly three quarters of all lives lost each year.

If this trend continues, NCDs are projected to account for about 86% of the 90 million annual deaths by mid-century; consequently, 77 million of these will be due to NCDs – a nearly 90% increase in absolute numbers since 2019.

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 onefifth 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.

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

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Website www.cawnyc.com 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 and disaggregated data are critical to track progress and improve national and global health policies.l for this role. I feel deep gratitude for this powerful coalition — the nation’s oldest and largest — at the heart of the civil rights movement and the privilege of the collective wisdom and tenacious work the coalition represents! Even in the midst of what seems like so much darkness, I have been moved and inspired by the determination and strength of our communities and the accomplishments in the midst of the madness.

Editor’s note: The World Health Statistics report is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual compilation of the most recent available data on health and health-related indicators.

Our coalition, which includes more than 230 national organizations, has been a brave defender of our core values and civil rights since long before my tenure. This coalition has always shown up for each other. As bookends on the year, I watched us all show up to shout in support of our front line members that abortion is a fundamental right. Legacy civil rights groups responded to the needs and asks of the reproductive health and freedom community. And just last week, we showed up for a spurious and distracting attack on our educators in a ridiculous hearing on COVID school closures. We came together to support the American Federation of Teachers and Randi Weingarten and to demand discussion of resources to public schools rather than fear mongering and distraction.

We cannot ignore the fact that we are living in a challenging and dangerous period in our history. The same forces that conspired to end the federal right to abortion are also attempting to prevent people of color, those living in poverty, and people with disabilities from voting. These forces seek to roll back our civil and human rights and deny us the freedom to shape our communities and futures.

But I’m grateful for this year because our coalition fought for and won important reforms despite the forces and fears stoked to undermine our civil and human rights.

Because extreme Supreme Court justices turned back the clock on our right to make personal health care decisions, our coalition fought for and won, with renewed urgency, workplace protections for pregnant people — and we know the fight is in the states and we will continue to engage our people in building the power of showing up at the polls to fight for our rights.

Because every person in America should have the right to be with the per- son they love, our coalition fought for and won federal marriage equality protections — and we will continue working to ensure that LGBTQ people in every zip code are equal citizens under law and fully protected from discrimination. This includes gender-affirming care, being able to say “gay,” and for every student to read and learn from great books on LGBTQ identity, race, and history.

Because working people are under attack, particularly but not only public sector workers, we are showing up and calling out efforts to blame workers for problems politicians have created.

Because our country has one of the highest incarceration rates on the planet due to a system designed to criminalize poverty, our coalition fought for and won commonsense reforms to predatory prison phone rates charged to incarcerated people and their loved ones — and we will continue fighting to transform the American criminal-legal system and to implement a new paradigm for public safety that respects the humanity, dignity, and human rights of all people. We will say their names to demand we have no new names to add to that infamous list of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ernie Serrano, Tyre Nichols, and far too many others.

Because our communities depend on federal judges and Supreme Court justices to fairly administer justice for all of us, our coalition fought for and won confirmation of professionally and demographically diverse federal judges who are committed to our rights. In front of the Court this term, we rallied and fought to protect affirmative action in higher education, voting rights, and student debt cancellation, and we mobilized a multistate and multi-stakeholder campaign to meet each challenge because we know the impact these decisions could have on all of us. As we await the Court’s decisions in these and other cases, we will work with our coalition to ensure that we do not lose the basic rights that the Court will be weighing in on. We know that — no matter what — our coalition and our movement will remain united and will continue fighting for the future our communities deserve.

And because we know voters of color are disenfranchised more than any other community, we are working across states to engage and empower Black, Latino, Asian, Native, and youth voters ahead of continued on page 6