Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases
Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On Global Health And Development
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly widened existing economic and health disparities between wealthy and low-income countries and slowed progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new study published July 24, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Wanessa Miranda of Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and colleagues.
The global SDGs were established in 2015 as a wide and integrated agenda with themes ranging from eradicating poverty and promoting well-being to addressing socioeconomic inequalities. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is known to have delivered a devastating blow to global health, with large economic repercussions.
The new study investigated the potential impact of these economic disruptions on progress toward health-related SDGs. The research team used data from the official United Nations SDG database and analyzed the associations between well-being, income levels, and other key socioeconomic health determinants. A yearly model was extrapolated to predict trends between 2020 and 2030 using a baseline projection as well as a post-COVID-19 scenario.
The study estimated average economic growth losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as 42% and 28% for low and lower middle-income countries and 15% and 7% in high- and upper middle-income countries. These economic disparities are projected to drive global health inequalities in the themes of infectious disease, injuries and violence, maternal and reproductive health, health systems coverage and neonatal and infant health.
Overall, low-income countries can expect an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries can expect losses as low as 3%. Individual countries, such as Turkmenistan and Myanmar, have estimated a loss of progress which is as much as nine times worse than the average loss of 8%. The most significant losses are seen in Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia, and Latin America.
The authors conclude that the impact of the pandemic has been highly uneven across global economies and led to heightened inequalities globally, particularly impacting the health-related targets of the 2030 SDG Agenda.
The authors add: "The COVID-19 pandemic significantly widened existing economic and health disparities between wealthy and low-income countries and slowed progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Overall, low-income countries can expect an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries can expect losses as low as 3%."
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Humanity Suffering From 'extreme Heat Epidemic,' UN Chief Warns
Humanity is suffering from an "extreme heat epidemic," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday, calling for action to limit the impacts of heat waves intensified by climate change.
"Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic—wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world," he said. "That's 122 degrees Fahrenheit. And halfway to boiling."
According to the European Copernicus network, July 21, 22 and 23 were the three hottest days ever recorded worldwide, with July 22 holding the absolute record of 17.16 degrees Celsius (62.9 degrees Fahrenheit).
Guterres repeated his call for humanity to fight its "addiction" to fossil fuels.
"Today, our focus is on the impact of extreme heat. But let's not forget that there are many other devastating symptoms of the climate crisis: ever-more fierce hurricanes. Floods. Droughts. Wildfires. Rising sea levels. And the list goes on," he said.
"To tackle all these symptoms, we need to fight the disease. And the disease is the madness of incinerating our only home. The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction," he stressed, calling in particular on G20 countries to take action.
While 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 could set a new record, temperatures well above 40C (104F) are increasingly common.
In the space of a year, the 50C threshold has even been exceeded in at least 10 places, from Death Valley in the United States (53.9C on July 7) to Agadir in Morocco, and also in China and India.
The intense heat, often less visible than other devastating impacts of climate change such as storms or floods, is nonetheless more deadly.
This "silent killer" is responsible for around 489,000 deaths per year between 2000 and 2019, compared with 16,000 deaths per year from cyclones, according to the UN's "Call to Action" document published on Thursday.
Extremely high temperatures also have an economic impact, with the UN estimating economic losses from heat stress at work will reach $2.4 trillion in 2030.
According to a report by the International Labor Organization published on Thursday, more than 70 percent of workers were exposed to excessive heat in 2020, 8.8 percent more than in 2000.
"The good news is that we can save lives and we can limit its impact," Guterres said Thursday.
The UN has called for the world community to first act to protect "the most vulnerable"—including young children, the elderly and also humanity's poorest.
In this context, early warning systems should include extreme heat, warning populations of the arrival of heat waves and informing them of the precautions to take, the document says.
The call to action also recommends an "increase (to) equitable access to and scale up (of) low-carbon cooling."
This would involve investing in passive cooling systems—which include climate-sensitive urban design measures, reflective surfaces and natural cooling systems—and the phase-out of climate-warming gases that are used in many cooling systems.
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New UNAIDS Report Shows AIDS Pandemic Can Be Ended By 2030, But Only If Leaders Boost Resources And Protect Human Rights Now
GENEVA/MUNICH, 22 July 2024—A new report released today by UNAIDS shows that the world is at a critical moment that will determine whether world leaders meet their commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The report, The Urgency of Now: AIDS at a Crossroads, brings together new data and case studies which demonstrate that the decisions and policy choices taken by world leaders this year will decide the fate of millions of lives and whether the world's deadliest pandemic is overcome.
Whilst the end of AIDS is within our grasp, this decade, currently the world is off track. Globally, of the 39.9 million people living with HIV, 9.3 million, nearly a quarter, are not receiving life-saving treatment. As a consequence, a person dies from AIDS-related causes every minute.
Leaders pledged to reduce annual new infections to below 370 000 by 2025, but new HIV infections are still more than three times higher than that, at 1.3 million in 2023. And now cuts in resourcing and a rising anti-rights push are endangering the progress that has been made.
"World leaders pledged to end the AIDS pandemic as a public health threat by 2030, and they can uphold their promise, but only if they ensure that the HIV response has the resources it needs and that the human rights of everyone are protected," said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima. "Leaders can save millions of lives, prevent millions of new HIV infections, and ensure that everyone living with HIV can live healthy, full lives."
The report finds that if leaders take the bold actions needed now to ensure sufficient and sustainable resourcing and protect everyone's human rights, the number of people living with HIV, requiring life-long treatment, will settle at around 29 million by 2050 but if they take the wrong path, the number of people who will need life-long support will rise to 46 million (compared to 39.9 million in 2023).
The report shows continued (although slower) progress in rolling out medicines to people living with HIV with 30.7 million people now on treatment, more than 3 in 4 people living with HIV. As recently as 2010 treatment coverage stood at just 47%. The expansion of people accessing treatment is a landmark public health achievement that has seen AIDS-related deaths halved since 2010—from 1.3 million to 630 000 in 2023.
However, the world is off track to meet the 2025 target of reducing AIDS-related deaths to below 250 000.
Although tremendous progress has been made in preventing new HIV infections which have fallen by 39% since 2010 globally, and by 59% in eastern and southern Africa, the report shows that new HIV infections are rising in three regions, the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and central Asia and Latin America, and gaps and inequalities persist.
"Countries are making enormous progress to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, however there have been many challenges that could slow our efforts," said Dr Anthony Fauci, Former Scientific Advisor to the US President. "We must do everything we can to be continually vocal and proactive. Failure is not an option here. In fact, it is unthinkable. If we all work together, we shall meet our common goal. I for one will continue to work with all of my strength to make sure that we do indeed end the AIDS epidemic and I implore all of you to commit to the same."
Gender inequality is exacerbating the risks faced by girls and women and driving the pandemic. HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women is still extraordinarily high in parts of eastern and southern Africa and western and central Africa.
Because stigma and discrimination against marginalized communities create barriers to vital prevention and treatment services, key populations, including sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs, represent an increased proportion at (55%) of new infections globally compared to 2010 (45%).
The report demonstrates that HIV prevention and treatment services will only reach people if human rights are upheld, if unfair laws against women and against marginalized communities are scrapped, and if discrimination and violence are tackled head on.
UNAIDS calculations show that whilst 20% of HIV resources should be dedicated towards HIV prevention for populations most affected by HIV, just 2.6% of total HIV spending went towards interventions for key populations in 2023.
Around the world funding is shrinking, holding back progress and even leading to rising epidemics in certain regions. In 2023, total resources available for HIV (US$ 19.8 billion) dropped by 5% from 2022 and were US$ 9.5 billion short of the amount needed by 2025 (US$ 29.3 billion). Domestic funding in low- and middle-income countries—which make up 59% of total resources for HIV—is being constrained by the debt crisis and fell for the fourth consecutive year, with a 6% decline from 2022 to 2023.
Increased resource mobilization is needed, especially in Asia and the Pacific—where the numbers of people living with HIV are projected to almost double by 2050—and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa, regions with growing epidemics, but where funding for HIV has decreased significantly. Around half of the total resources needed by 2025, and 93% of the current HIV funding gap, are outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Urgency of Now: AIDS at a Crossroads shows that decisions taken this year will determine if global targets are met, AIDS is ended as a public health threat by 2030, and a sustainable HIV response is built.
"The fraying of solidarity between and within countries is putting progress in danger, but the path that ends AIDS is a path that has been proven, and is a path that leaders have promised to take. Whether leaders fulfill their pledge to end AIDS is a political and financial choice. The time to choose the right path is now," said Ms Byanyima.
UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.Org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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