How To Increase Global Life Expectancy By 6.7 Years By 2030

 

Director-General, World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his opening address at the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA), on Monday May 23, 2022, said investing in primary health care (PHC) could increase global life expectancy by as much as 6.7 years by 2030.

Ghebreyesus said, by contrast, 90 per cent of essential health services can be delivered through primary health care. He said: “…We need a radical shift to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage, with a significant increase in investments in primary health care in all countries – high, middle, low income. We have seen globally that the weakness is in primary health care.

“Crucially, we call on all Member States to ensure that seeking health care is never a source of financial hardship.

“The Secretariat’s proposed target therefore is to support 25 countries to halt the rise in financial hardship caused by out-of-pocket health spending by 2025.

“The second priority is providing health services – by reorienting health systems towards primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage.

“At present, health spending in most countries is imbalanced towards secondary and tertiary care, with huge amounts spent on expensive equipment and medicines that often deliver modest health gains.”