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More than half a billion people pushed or pushed further into extreme poverty due to health care costs
DUBAI/GENEVA/WASHINGTON DC — New evidence compiled by the World Health Organization and the World Bank shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage. The organizations also reveal that more than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
The fi ndings are contained in two complementary reports, launched on Universal Health Coverage Day, highlighting the devastating impact of COVID-19 on people’s ability to obtain health care and pay for it.
In 2020, the pandemic disrupted health services and stretched countries’ health systems beyond their limits as they struggled to deal with the impact of COVID-19. As a result, for example, immunization coverage dropped for the fi rst time in ten years, and deaths from TB and malaria increased.
The pandemic also triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, making it increasingly diffi cult for people to pay for care. Even before the pandemic, half a billion people were being pushed (or pushed still further) into extreme poverty because of payments they made for health care. The organizations expect that that number is now considerably higher.
“There is no time to spare,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “All governments must immediately resume and accelerate eff orts to ensure every one of their citizens can access health services without fear of the fi nancial consequences. This means strengthening public spending on health and social support, and increasing their focus on primary health care systems that can provide essential care close to home.”
He added: “Prior to the pandemic, many countries had made progress. But it was not robust enough. This time we must build health systems that are strong enough to withstand shocks, such as the next pandemic and stay on course towards universal health coverage.”
The new WHO/World Bank reports also warn that fi nancial hardship is likely to become more intense as poverty grows, incomes fall, and governments face tighter fi scal constraints.
“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, almost 1 billion people were spending more than 10 per cent of their household budget on health,” said Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank. “This is not acceptable, especially since the poorest people are hit hardest. Within a constrained fi scal space, governments will have to make tough choices to protect and increase health budgets,” he added.
In the fi rst two decades of this century, many govern-
Cruelty to our planet
PHILIP S. CHUA
Heart of Hope
It does not take an Einstein to understand that clean air, pure water, and unpolluted environment are conducive to health and longevity. In certain parts of the world, like in the serene Okinawa to the verdant valleys of Ecuador to the unspoiled hills of the Himalayas, a signifi cant number of people normally live to a hundred. A common denominator among these centenarians is an environment that is nature’s best, untainted by the toxic byproducts of the advances in technology in this modern world of ours.
Today, man, in most parts of the earth, especially in well-developed cities, is no longer living in harmony with nature. He has been hostile to his environment, gradually killing it with poisonous gases and deadly chemicals from our factories and toxic smokes from our vehicles that pollute the air and deplete the ozone layer which shields and protects us from dangerous solar radiation. Irresponsible massive deforestation, obviously for fi nancial gains, disregarding the law of nature, has caused widespread fl ooding and mudslides that kill thousands every year. Individually, we use countless noxious chemicals at home for cleaning which eventually end up in rivers and oceans destroying bodies of water and their priceless inhabitants and contaminating our drinking water. And there are other human activities, some criminal like arson causing forest fi res, that negatively alter the “homeostasis” in our world and the equilibrium in our environment and in our own selves.
These unwise and negligent human behaviors against Planet Earth and Mother Nature for centuries have boomeranged, causing untold calamities worldwide, in the form of human diseases and destruction of our physical milieu, not to mention their immeasurable adverse effects on the human psyche around the globe. Our immune system as a species, for one, has been negatively impacted. Various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, diseases of the heart, lungs, and various other organs, and some unexplained ailments, have increased, especially in the last century or so. Our misadventures are now haunting us and our children.
While the governments of the world are trying to remedy this dire global “climate change,” it behooves us, earthlings, to do our daily share in showing more respect and love for our environment. After all, planet earth is the only home we’ve got today. And destroying it is like helping detonate a bomb on board a plane we are in.
Organic is Healthier
Most of the produce and products on the market today are “contaminated” with some type of chemicals used in fertilizing them, protecting them, making them more appealing, preserving them, or enriching them. Let’s opt for organic foods, vegetables, meat products, fruits, etc. that are raised and produced without pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives, coloring. We must also avoid processed foods, which increase our risk for cancer.
Versatile plastic wares abound in the world, many of them releasing vinyl chloride and other toxic gases, or phthalates, which are cancer and birth defect-causing agents, and which are also harmful to the lungs and liver. Surprisingly, unbeknownst to most of us, some plastics are also used in chewing gums, cosmetics, carpeting, mattresses, toilet papers, sanitary napkins, polyester clothing, and tissue papers. The use of glass containers, natural fi ber clothing, personal care-cosmetic products made with natural ingredients, wooden toys for kids, etc, and staying away from aluminum cookware, to prevent aluminum poisoning, are the healthier ways to go.
All white paper products are bleached with chemicals that leave behind residues of cancer-causing dioxin, which are likewise found in lunch bags, coff ee fi lters, diapers, paper towels, napkins, tissue, and toilet papers. Dioxin, like other harmful chemicals, enters the soil and eventually contaminates groundwater.
The use of organic household cleaners, “Green Your Clean Routine,” is the safer and healthier alternative. An eff ective and safer cleanser, for instance, is diluted vinegar, for use in the kitchen and bathroom tiles, mirrors, and even in carpets, to inhibit mildew and bacteria. For hand sanitizer against viruses, alcohol (must be 75 percent or higher) is eff ective, but frequent handwashing with soap is still the safest. For COVID-19, social distancing is benefi cial, and vaccination, is a must to prevent getting infected with this killer virus with its Delta variant, and now, the new South African Omicron strain, which experts are closely monitoring.
Our obligation
The corporate world, our community, and we, as individuals, have the moral duty and responsibility, as members of society, to protect and preserve our planet and Mother Nature for our survival and the survival of our family and all our fellow human beings traveling with us in this journey on planet earth. We, as a species, our genus, our race, will only survive if we all endeavor together to save Mother Earth. We do not have any other option. If we don’t stop poisoning and destroying our only home where we are all trapped, the end of man is not far behind. I pray that reality catches up with our race sooner than later, while there is still time.
The basic principle in all this is for us, the inhabitants of Planet Earth, to be responsible and be good to our environment by not contaminating our natural habitat with poisons in whatever form, and to allow Mother Nature to fl ourish at its best. We each can start this education, positive awareness, behavioral modifi cation, compassion, and responsible practices in our own homes and community.
The purer the air we breathe in, the cleaner the water we drink, the unadulterated food we eat, the more robust the ozone layer is, and the healthier our lifestyle is, the more wonderful our world will be, not only for us and our loved ones, but for humankind as a whole, and for all the future generations to come.
Before the year 2021 ends, in the midst of this deadly COVID-19 pandemic which has so far killed 5.3 million, let’s be wiser and kinder to ourselves. Let us protect ourselves and others around us by wearing a mask and doing social distancing in public. More importantly, let us all get vaccinated. More than 4.5 billion people have been safely vaccinated around the world, more than 230 million of them in the United States. It is really a matter of life and death.
Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. Websites: FUN8888.com and philipSchua.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com
