Life expectancy for people living in low-income countries is 16 years lower than for people in high-income countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

The global health organisation also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed between 119 to 124 million people into extreme poverty last year.

Furthermore, under-five death rates among children from the poorest households are double that of children from the richest households.

The WHO, therefore urged governments to invest in strengthening their health systems, and remove the barriers that prevent so many people from accessing them.

The Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made these known in a statement to commemorate this year’s World Health Day.

He said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has thrived amid the inequalities in our societies and the gaps in our health systems.

“It is vital for all governments to invest in strengthening their health services and to remove the barriers that prevent so many people from using them, so more people have the chance to live healthy lives.

“Now is the time to invest in health as a motor of development.

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“We do not need to choose between improving public health, building sustainable societies, ensuring food security and adequate nutrition, tackling climate change and having thriving local economies. All these vital outcomes go hand in hand.”

The United Nations’ Agency noted that within countries, illness and death from COVID-19 have been higher among groups who face discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, and adverse daily living and working conditions – including humanitarian crises.

Also, the pandemic is estimated to have driven between 119 and 124 million more people into extreme poverty last year. And there is convincing evidence that it has widened gender gaps in employment, with women exiting the labour force in greater numbers than men over the past 12 months.

Noting that vaccines were important to tackling COVID-19, the WHO however stated that vaccines alone were not enough.

“Safe and effective vaccines have been developed and approved at record speed. The challenge now is to ensure that they are available to everyone who needs them. Key here will be additional support to COVAX, the vaccine pillar in the ACT-Accelerator, which hopes to have reached 100 countries and economies in the coming days.

“But vaccines alone will not overcome COVID-19. Commodities such as medical oxygen and personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as reliable diagnostic tests and medicines are also vital.

“So are strong mechanisms to fairly distribute all these products within national borders. The ACT-Accelerator aims to establish testing and treatments for hundreds of millions of people in low and middle-income countries who would otherwise miss out.

“But it still requires USD22.1 billion to deliver these vital tools where they are so desperately needed,” it said.

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