{"id":4443,"date":"2022-03-10T22:08:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T03:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heartandvascularmed.com\/?p=4443"},"modified":"2022-03-10T22:08:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T03:08:01","slug":"putting-health-at-the-centre-of-post-covid-recovery-who-european-region-faces-stark-choices-that-will-shape-its-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/?p=4443","title":{"rendered":"Putting health at the centre of post-COVID recovery: WHO European Region faces stark choices that will shape its future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>&#xD;<br \/>\n&#xD;<\/p>\n<div id=\"content_container_525887\">&#xD;<\/p>\n<h3>European Health Report 2021 highlights the way forward<\/h3>\n<h6>Copenhagen, 10 March 2022<\/h6>\n<p>Given the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the WHO European Region, countries face daunting challenges in tackling health inequities and achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. But a critical window of opportunity still exists if governments and health authorities take necessary actions, according to the flagship European Health Report 2021, released by the WHO Regional Office for Europe today.<\/p>\n<p>Published every three years, the latest report takes stock of the Region\u2019s progress on SDG health indicators such as universal health coverage, noncommunicable diseases and environmental health, but it also illustrates how the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded countries\u2019 efforts to reach crucial targets.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, for the first time, the report includes a set of projections outlining health impacts across three scenarios: no strategic action is taken to get back on track; progress is accelerated and strengthened; or progress is further slowed and diluted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a stark choice at this juncture almost two years into the pandemic,\u201d noted Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. \u201cWe can prioritize the health sector as never before, with an urgent focus on long-neglected issues including mental health \u2013 recognizing health systems and health workers as essential pillars of socioeconomic recovery and key to preparing for future shocks. Or we can lose the chance we have, jeopardizing the health and well-being of citizens, and undermining the health security of individual countries and indeed our entire Region. The choice is obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The report reveals that:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>All countries in the WHO European Region have met the SDG target for maternal mortality of less than 70 per 100 000 live births by 2030. The Region\u2019s average rate is at 13 per 100 000 live births, as of 2017.<\/li>\n<li>Almost all countries in the Region have met the SDG target for a newborn and child mortality rate of less than 12 and 25 deaths per 1000 live births, respectively. The Region\u2019s average rate is at 4 and 8 deaths per 1000 live births, respectively.<\/li>\n<li>The Region has also seen mixed progress in premature mortality because of noncommunicable diseases. Between 2010 and 2018, premature mortality because of cardiovascular diseases decreased by almost 20%, and nearly 10% because of cancers, even though cancer still accounts for more than 20% of all deaths, a situation further exacerbated by the pandemic\u2019s impact on cancer screening and treatment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Despite these encouraging trends, the report also finds that:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on people\u2019s mental health in the Region. Preliminary evidence suggests that even though the biggest decline in mental well-being occurred among men aged 18\u201324 years, the lowest mental well-being was registered among women aged 18\u201324 years and 35\u201344 years.<\/li>\n<li>Suicide continues to be an important contributor to premature mortality. Despite a declining trend, the Region still has one of the highest age-standardized suicide mortality rates globally. In 2019, even before the pandemic, 119 000 people in the Region died because of suicide.<\/li>\n<li>The European Region is one of two WHO regions where the number of HIV infections is increasing. New HIV infections increased by 6% for every 1000 uninfected people between 2015 and 2019.<\/li>\n<li>Financial protection continues to be a challenge in the Region. Catastrophic health spending \u2013 a household\u2019s inability to pay for health care because of high costs \u2013 is experienced by between 1% and 19% of all households across countries.<\/li>\n<li>COVID-19 has strained health systems beyond measure, leading to major disruptions in health services. In 2020, during the first months of the pandemic, 40% of essential health services were at least partially disrupted in the Region. This pattern persisted in 2021, with about 29% of health services still at least partially disrupted during the first three months of the year.<\/li>\n<li>On noncommunicable diseases, despite recent progress in the Region tackling risk factors such as alcohol and tobacco use, 26% of the adult population still smokes tobacco (compared to the global average of 23.6%) and adults drink on average 9.5 litres of pure alcohol per year (compared to the global average of 5.8 litres).<\/li>\n<li>Almost 1 in 3 children in the Region are overweight or obese.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Future possibilities<\/h3>\n<p>In a first, the latest European Health Report includes projections based on health forecasts carried out by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, United States of America.<\/p>\n<p>The projections present three possible scenarios until 2030 for 12 SDG health indicators:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The \u201creference\u201d scenario is what the IHME expects to happen based on trends in the past.<\/li>\n<li>The \u201cbetter\u201d scenario is what the IHME expects to happen if all countries significantly accelerate progress.<\/li>\n<li>The \u201cworse\u201d scenario is what the IHME expects to happen in all countries if progress slows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Taking HIV incidence in the Region as an example, the IHME projections show that in the reference scenario, based on current actions, the rate of infection will remain at the same high levels as in 2010; decrease towards, but not completely reach, the SDG targets in the better scenario; and significantly rise in the worse scenario.<\/p>\n<p>On another SDG health indicator, intimate partner violence against women, a scourge that escalated amid pandemic lockdowns, the IHME projections reveal that in the better scenario prevalence could decrease by 5% in 2030 compared with 2015, but could increase by 3% under the worse scenario.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many success stories in this flagship report, like child and maternal mortality continuing to decline, or progress towards reducing deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease,\u201d explained Dr Christopher Murray, IHME Director. \u201cBut gains made on various indicators remain fragile. Our projections clearly underscore the urgency for countries to intensify their efforts to achieve positive health outcomes on multiple fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFortunately, the Region has a roadmap to follow \u2013 our forward-looking five-year plan unanimously approved by Member States in 2020,\u201d continued Dr Kluge. \u201cThe European Programme of Work recalibrates health priorities under key themes and pillars, envisaging united action for health by governments, civil society and other key partners. Even as we acknowledge the Region\u2019s significant advances let us heed the warnings embedded across the European Health Report, as we look to a post-COVID future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#xD;\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#xD;\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euro.who.int\/en\/media-centre\/sections\/press-releases\/2022\/putting-health-at-the-centre-of-post-covid-recovery-who-european-region-faces-stark-choices-that-will-shape-its-future\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European Health Report 2021 highlights the way forwardCopenhagen, 10 March 2022Given the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the WHO European Region, countries face daunting challenges in tackling health inequities and achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. But a critical window of opportunity still exists if governments and health authorities take&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":4444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medicalnewstoday_com"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahvmed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}