World Health Day: Celebrating Our Right to Health!
Every year on 7 April we celebrate World Health Day! This day marks the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948, a UN agency dedicated to ensuring global health.
The core message of World Health Day is simple: give people access to health care without the prospect of financial hardship.
Countries that prioritise universal health coverage are making a smart investment in their human capital. Why? Because in addition to improving individual health and life expectancy, it protects nations from epidemics, alleviates poverty, reduces hunger, promotes employment, drives economic growth and advances gender equality.
While 140 countries have recognised health as a fundamental human right in their constitutions, our world faces unprecedented challenges that systematically threaten this right.
But there is good news to celebrate: despite wars, crises and uncertainty, progress continues. Governments are paying more attention to people’s lives, global investment in basic health care is increasing, and innovation is flourishing.
Good news to celebrate:
- Remarkable global progress in the under-five mortality rate
The under-five disease-related mortality rate is projected to fall from 37 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021 to 36 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022. If the current trend continues, the child mortality rate is projected to be 29 per 1,000 in 2030.
- Global health improvement through vaccination programmes
Despite the fact that one in five children worldwide does not have access to essential vaccines, childhood immunisation prevents 4 million deaths worldwide each year. The delivery of vaccines to prevent serious illness or preventable death is making remarkable progress around the world.
- Global life expectancy is high and increasingly equal
Life expectancy is increasing worldwide, with OECD data showing an average life expectancy of 80.3 years. Women live on average 5.4 years longer than men in OECD countries, partly because of higher risk factors in men, such as tobacco and alcohol use and less healthy diets.
Despite the good news, some inequalities remain between countries, although there is a trend towards convergence.
In each of these areas, the pharmaceutical industry is at the forefront. The industry is responsible for the massive investment in the development of new medicines, not only to tackle critical and complex diseases such as diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS and other major health problems, but also to develop new life-saving medicines such as antibiotics.
By ensuring access to essential medicines around the world, the pharmaceutical industry also makes existing medicines more widely available, helping to improve people’s lives and well-being. This often takes the form of partnerships, licencing agreements and initiatives to make treatments available in resource-limited regions.
Public health challenges are another way in which the pharmaceutical industry contributes to global health. Working with governments, NGOs and international bodies to address major health challenges, the industry is a key player in tackling infectious diseases or promoting maternal health.
Christeyns is a trusted partner to the pharmaceutical industry, helping to improve manufacturing processes by developing cleaning and disinfection solutions for the production of medicines.
References:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-vaccination-coverage?time=1980..2021
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/report/2023-report/#under-5-mortality
https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/immunization/data/fast-facts.html.
https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/health-at-a-glance-2023_d90b402d-en#page1
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