Covid-19 Reverses 10 Years Of Life Expectancy Gains: WHO

Nearly a decade of gains in improving global life expectancy was lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the World Health Organization on Friday.

The average life expectancy was pegged at 71.4 years, the lowest since 2012.

Covid-19 Reverses 10 Years Of Life: WHO

Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy was reduced by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, and healthy life expectancy fell by 1.5 years to 61.9 years, as found by the WHO's World Health Statistics report. The Americas and Southeast Asia regions were most affected, with life expectancy dropping by about 3 years, as reported by Hindustan Times.

"In just two years, the Covid-19 pandemic erased a decade of gains in life expectancy," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The importance of a new Pandemic Agreement was noted by him "not only to strengthen global health security, but to protect long-term investments in health and promote equity".

Covid-19 was identified as a top cause of death, ranking third globally in 2020 and second in 2021, claiming nearly 13 million lives. It was mentioned in the WHO report that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as ischaemic heart disease and stroke, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and diabetes were the biggest killers before the pandemic, responsible for 74% of all deaths in 2019.

Even during the pandemic, NCDs continued to account for 78% of non-COVID deaths, as per media report. Concerning trends in malnutrition and obesity were highlighted in the report. In 2022, over 1 billion people aged 5 and up were recorded as having obesity, while more than half a billion were underweight.

Among children under 5, 148 million were facing stunting, 45 million wasting, and 37 million were overweight. Refugees, migrants, and the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities were reported to face disproportionate health inequities, urging health systems to adapt.

Access to healthcare for refugees and migrants was found to remain limited, with only half of the 84 countries surveyed between 2018 and 2021 providing government-funded health services to these groups at levels comparable to their citizens, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Despite setbacks due to the pandemic, some progress was made toward WHO's Triple Billion targets and health-related Sustainable Development Goals, though not enough. Since 2018, 1.5 billion more people were reported to have achieved better health and well-being, while universal health coverage expanded to 585 million more. However, only 777 million more were likely to have adequate protection during health emergencies by 2025.

"Without accelerating progress, it is unlikely that any of the health SDGs will be met by 2030," said Samira Asma, WHO assistant director-general for data, analytics, and delivery for impact.