Health: extreme risk
Extracted from the Social Watch Report 2006
September 2006
There is a huge gap between the countries in the better and worse relative situations as regards health care. Conditions in some poorer countries amount to a public emergency, but in the more developed countries lethal diseases have been brought under control. No country has regressed significantly in health care recently, but fewer than 10% have made good progress. Health care provision is a question of human rights, and this means there must be universal access and efficient public services.
There are good and bad aspects to the health situation in the world. On the one hand, good overall progress has been made, but there are still threats to health that affect the whole world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Chronic diseases, consisting of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, cancers, injuries, and neurological and psychological disorders, are major burdens affecting rich and poor populations alike.”(1)
On the other hand, there are shocking differences in the sphere of health care between countries. In the least developed countries some population groups are at extreme risk in situations that amount to public emergencies, but in the more developed countries some of the most lethal illnesses have been brought under control to the point that they can now be considered merely chronic, that is to say, manageable. The gap is wide, and life expectancy at birth is a key indicator that reflects this inequality.
One of the crucial factors underlying this gap between countries is the amount of health infrastructure that there is, and lack of infrastructure goes a long way towards perpetuating these inequalities. Poor living conditions in general, and poverty, gender inequity and environmental pollution in particular, are also important causes of inequalities in health. This is a question of human rights, and what is needed is not just universal access to health services but also that people and communities should play an active role in their own health care and in the efficiency of public services.
The greatest global pandemic is HIV/AIDS. It has now spread to such an extent that it has become the main cause of death among people in the 15 to 49 age bracket. According to UNICEF, “in 2003 alone, 2.9 million people died of AIDS and 4.8 million people were newly infected with the HIV virus. Over 90 per cent of people currently living with HIV/ AIDS are in developing countries… In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS has led to increasing child mortality, dramatic reductions in life expectancy and millions of orphans.” (2)
Today there are more than 40 million people in the world living with the virus, but only 5% of them are in the rich countries. Medical treatment has improved, but even so, in 2005 more than 3 million people died from causes attributable to HIV/AIDS, and half a million of the victims were children.
Continues...
View the complete analysis including tables and charts (PDF)
Additional resources
Table on the progress in health worldwide (PDF)
See the complete table of contents of the Social Watch Report 2006
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(1) WHO (2006a). The World Health Report 2006. Working together for health. P. 7. Available from: .
(2) UNICEF (2005). The State of the World’s Children 2005. Childhood under threat. Available from: .
