PHA-Exchange> MEDICAL TRENDS REVEALED IN LATEST UN HEALTH STATISTICS COMPILATION

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

from Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au> -----

MEDICAL TRENDS REVEALED IN LATEST UN HEALTH STATISTICS COMPILATION
New York, May 18 2007  3:00PM
The rising deaths caused by non-communicable diseases and the vast inequality 
in health resources 
between developed and developing countries are two of the trends spotlighted in 
an annual 
statistical compilation <" 
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2007/np24/en/index.html">released 
today by the United 
Nations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) report represents the most complete set of 
health statistics 
available, for a set of 50 health indicators from the agency’s 193 Member 
States, with the new 
edition also highlighting trends in 10 of the most closely watched global 
health figure.

According to the publication, World Health Statistics 2007, the ageing of the 
global population will 
result in significant increases in the total number of deaths caused by most 
non-communicable 
diseases, particularly cancer, over the next 30 years.

In regard to the distribution of health resources, the volume points out that 
there is a 20/90 
syndrome in which 30 developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and 
Development (OECD) make up less than 20 per cent of the world’s population 
but spend 90 per cent of 
available health funding.

Other trends monitored by the publication include projections of mortality for 
the year 2030, 
aspects of maternal mortality, rates of growth stunting due to malnutrition, the
extent to which people can access treatment, the major risk factors for ill-
health, and health 
outcomes in the context of demographic factors in individual countries.

In her speech introducing the report to current World Health Assembly, the 
annual policy-making 
meeting of WHO, Director-General Margaret Chan, focused on the need for 
accurate evidence and 
up-to-date statistics as the basis for policy decisions.

“Reliable health data and statistics are the foundation of health policies, 
strategies, and 
evaluation and monitoring," Dr. Chan told the gathering in Geneva. “Evidence 
is also the foundation 
for sound health information for the general public.”


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