WHO spells out most urgent health issues for the next 10 years

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has released its “to-do” list of the most urgent worldwide health issues that need to be tackled over the next decade. The heart of the issue, argues the WHO, is that governments are simply failing to fund health needs and health care systems. As a result, they are putting many people at the risk of death, poverty and of a national economic downturn. The issues involved are complex and often too thorny to handle with ease. However, they must be addressed, and they can be, too, if governments act with firm determination to invest in the health of their people. Credit: UNICEF Putting the money where it counts Healthcare spending is, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an investment in the future. While many national leaders gladly allot money to defend the nation against terrorism, for instance, a viral outbreak could cost many more lives, break the social bond that comprises society, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to contain. For this reason, and because just one pandemic could cripple the nation financially, and break its independence, ensuring health security should not and cannot be a matter that is left to the ministries of health. The health challenges that face the world in the third decade of the new millennium must be faced by the combined resources of the governments of each nation, since the whole nation faces the threat should these issues not be successfully resolved. The cost of not spending now The United Nations General Assembly has emphasized the need to ACT to make it even remotely possible to attain the goals set by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals program, even while the target year is within sight. To make this “the decade of action”, as the UN calls it, nations must allocate funds to plug the leaks and shore up the gaps in their health infrastructure and systems, while providing help to those countries most in need of such funding but least able to raise the necessary resources. The cost of failure to invest in this manner will be great, in terms of both the money needed and the lives lost. It is essential that governments work in cooperation with the national communities and with international agencies if the goals set by the UN are to be met for the good of the whole world. A wide range of urgent priorities Related Stories