ANN/THE STAR – In 2015, United Nations (UN) member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This framework consists of 17 interlinked objectives designed to guide global progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future by 2030.
The SDGs aim to tackle critical societal challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and the promotion of peace and justice.
SDG 3, which specifically aims to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”, has a direct relationship to life expectancy.
OUR LIFE EXPECTANCY
Life expectancy is the average number of years that a newborn could expect to live, if he or she were subject to the age-specific mortality (death) rates of a given period of time.
It is an indicator of mortality conditions and is a proxy of a nation’s overall health and well-being.
Life expectancy was historically short for humans, but human lifespan increased markedly in the second half of the last century due to medical and technological advances; improved nutrition, housing and sanitation; and public health policies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) provides national health data for the SDGs.
The Western Pacific region has a population of 1.9 billion, and comprises 37 other countries, including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the Pacific Islands.
The WHO defines healthy life expectancy (HALE) as the “average number of years that a person can expect to live in ‘full health’ by taking into account years lived in less than full health due to disease and/or injury”.
HALE calculations are estimated as the years lost due to disability (YLD) rate per capita, adjusted for independent comorbidity (concurrent illness) by age, sex and country.
The WHO stated: “In Western Pacific, healthy life expectancy at birth (years) has improved by 4.35 years from 63.8 [63.1-64.6] years in 2000 to 68.2 [67.6-69] years in 2021.”
YEARS SPENT ILL
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, life expectancy had increased globally.
In the WHO Western Pacific region specifically, it had gone up by about six years between 2000 and 2020.
Although the global HALE had increased by about nine per cent from 2000 to 2020, this was primarily due to declining death rates, rather than reduced years lived with disability.
In other words, the increase in HALE had not kept pace with the increase in life expectancy globally.
The Covid-19 pandemic reversed about a decade of global gains in both life expectancy and HALE at birth.
In 2020, both global life expectancy and HALE returned to 2016 levels (72.5 years and 62.8 years respectively).
There were further declines in 2021, with both retreating to 2012 levels (71.4 years and 61.9 years respectively).
The maternal mortality rate (MMR), which reflects the number of women who die due to pregnancy or childbirth, is often used as an indirect measure of a country’s healthcare system. – Dr Milton Lum
