This content was published on April 6, 2023 – 15:26. April 6, 2023 – 15:26 minutes
Geneva, 6 April (EFE).- The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated its 75th anniversary with a press conference today and recalled the health achievements of mankind, but also warned of the current outbreaks of epidemics such as cholera in Africa, for example or the Marburg virus.
“The history of WHO began 75 years ago and will continue to be written. The challenges we face today are different from those of 1948, but our vision is the same: to achieve the highest possible health standards for all,” he stressed at the press conference WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The Ethiopian expert recalled that in this three-quarters of a century, global life expectancy has increased from 46 to 73 years, smallpox has been eradicated (one of the diseases that killed most people in history), while “polio is about to follow the same Away”.
Tobacco use and deaths in women during childbirth have been reduced by a third, infant mortality by half, and “new vaccines against malaria and Ebola have been developed in the last five years,” emphasized Tedros, recalling the recent role the WHO coordinator of the fight against Covid-19.
“WHO cannot fully recognize these achievements, but we have played a fundamental role in all of them,” said Tedros, who noted that despite progress, there is still a long way to go.
In this sense, the Director-General recalled that more than half of the world’s population does not have access to certain basic health services (including family planning) or that the number of people with problems paying for medical care has increased by a third to 2 billion people.
In addition, “diabetes and obesity rates have increased dramatically due to unhealthy diets and physical inactivity,” while progress in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis has slowed and the problem of antibiotic resistance (viruses and bacteria that no longer respond to drugs) is growing. ).
Speaking of the most immediate challenges, WHO Emergency Alerts and Response Coordinator Abdi Mahamud pointed to the increasing cholera outbreaks the planet is experiencing, particularly in Africa.
“It is a serious problem with further spread due to factors such as climate change and conflict,” stressed Mahamud, citing recent outbreaks of the disease in Malawi and Mozambique, among others.
Recent reports indicate that women and children are particularly affected by these outbreaks, a situation that, as the expert pointed out, is being studied by the WHO with the help of social anthropologists to analyze the causes of this circumstance.
Referring to the Marburg virus, an Ebola-like disease with equally high mortality rates, Mahamud recalled that the current outbreak in Equatorial Guinea has so far confirmed 14 cases with 23 suspects, while more than half a thousand contacts are being monitored for a possible spread of the pathogen. EFE
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