Australia; New Zealand; Pacific; International
Researchers for the World Health Organisation (WHO) say the global progress towards the health and health-related sustainable development goals remains uneven and is too slow to meet the established targets for 2030. They note continuing declines in non-communicable diseases and infectious diseases, such as HIV and tuberculosis; however, malaria rates have risen since 2015. The prevalence of anaemia in women rose slightly in recent years, the researchers find, and the number of children under five years who are overweight has increased. Violence against women, including intimate partner violence, remains prevalent, they say. Alcohol and tobacco use have been declining, but might still narrowly miss the global targets. They found that more people had access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services, but billions of people in rural areas are still missing out. COVID-19 spiked the number of excess deaths, they say, which were already high due to exposure to household and ambient air pollution from particulate matter. Additionally, the researchers say only one-third of global deaths were registered with meaningful cause-of-death information, while around half of countries have low- or very-low quality or no data.
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