HEALTH: Moderately Optimistic Outlook for 21st Century

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, May 11 1998 (IPS) - Remarkable advances have been made in global health, and the outlook for the 21st century is moderately optimistic. But the gap between the state of health of the rich and the poor is as wide as 50 years ago, and still growing, says a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

The WHO report released at the opening of the World Health Assembly Monday highlights the progress seen since the birth of the United Nations institution, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on Apr. 7.

In his message of presentation of the 1998 report on the state of world health, WHO Director-General Hiroshi Nakajima said the gains and technological advances achieved provided a more optimistic view of the future than perhaps at any other time in recent history.

The report paints a cautiously optimistic outlook for the future up to the year 2025, which gives rise to the hope that a longer life “could be a prize worth winning,” he added.

Average life expectancy in the world today is 66 years, and life expectancy at birth is above 60 years in at least 120 countries, which have a combined population of more than five billion. In 1955, average life expectancy in the world was a mere 48 years.

Average life expectancy is expected to rise to 75 by the year 2025.

But the report submitted to this week’s World Health Assembly recognises that greater longevity coupled with poor quality of life “is a meaningless prize.” Health expectancy is more important than life expectancy, the document underlines.

The Assembly, comprised of the health ministers from WHO’s 191 member states, will discuss pressing new concerns like the ethical, scientific and social repercussions of cloning on human health, and publicity, promotion and cross-border sales of medical products through Internet.

In Wednesday’s session, the Assembly will vote on the WHO Executive Council’s designation of former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland as the agency’s new director-general. On Jul. 21, Brundtland will replace Nakajima, who has served two five- year terms as director-general.

On Thursday, a number of heads of state and government, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, will participate in the Assembly’s celebration of WHO’s 50th anniversary.

U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will receive the prize awarded by the United Arab Emirates Health Foundation.

Nakajima’s report, which will also be discussed by the Assembly, attributes the remarkable improvements in health seen in the past 50 years to socioeconomic development, increased supply of clean water and health clinics, improvements in personal hygiene and the establishment and expansion of national health services.

He cites accomplishments like the defeat of once widespread infectious diseases like poliomyelitis, leprosy, the guinea worm, Chagas disease and river blindness.

Other spectacular advances mentioned are the development of vaccines and medication, innovations in research, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, and rehabilitation and the reduction of disabilities.

But statistics from the world’s marginalised regions tarnish the picture, the WHO report adds. While life expectancy rose throughout the 20th century, three out of four people in the least developed countries fail to reach the age of 50, the average life expectancy in the world 50 years ago.

The report points out that 21 million deaths this year – two of every five worldwide – will involve people under 50, including 10 million children who will not make it to their fifth birthday. One of humanity’s big challenges on the threshold of the 21st century is reducing the number of premature deaths, WHO underlines.

Distribution of healthcare has not kept up with the advances seen in the field of health, because many people have seen little or no benefits, the report stresses.

Nakajima says the international community’s most pressing concern will be the fate of those who in all probability will be left behind – hundreds of millions of men, women and children, still trapped in the past and the most dire poverty, “while the rest of the world moves confidently towards the future.”

That sector of the international community lives in the least developed countries, where the burden of poor health, illness and inequalities is heavier, the outlook for the future darker and life shorter than anywhere else.

The report also underlines the tragic state of health of innumerable millions of women worldwide.