MEDICAL TRENDS REVEALED IN LATEST UN HEALTH STATISTICS COMPILATION

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."
2007-05-18 00:00:00.000

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