WHO flags up global inequality in healthcare treatment

[24 November 2008 - 09h48]
[mis à jour le 24 November 2008 à 15h48]

The differences in life expectancy between rich and poor countries are getting deeper.

They’re now in excess of 40 years – an intolerable inequality highlighted by the WHO in its most recent annual World Health Report. The report, which is the WHO’s flagship publication, provides an appraisal of the world health situation, accompanied by statistics on each country.

A world that is heavily unbalanced in terms of health is neither stable nor safe, warns WHO Director General Margaret Chan. So what is the solution? To promote primary health care – in other words, pay just as much attention to prevention as to treatment. This is in line with the thinking launched 30 years ago at the international conference held at Alma-Ata, now Almaty, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Firstly, this requires universal healthcare cover to be put in place and the opening of healthcare centres accessible to the most disadvantaged communities. Like the 17,000 Iranian “health houses” that provide cover for the whole of the Islamic republic. The results are encouraging: over the last 20 years, life expectancy there has risen from 63 to 71 years.

However, globally speaking, the challenges seems almost insurmountable. Public spending on health ranges between 20 dollars and more than 6,000 dollars per person, per year, the WHO points out. For example, in 2006, 47 million women gave birth without receiving professional care. And more than 98% of women who died during pregnancy last year lived in developing countries… and half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source : WHO, october 2008

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