Statistics from World Health Organization give update on progress towards global health goals

The World Health Organization (WHO) published this year’s World Health Statistics report earlier this week (13 May, 2015).

The report brings together data covering 194 countries to give an overview of the world’s progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals are a series of targets set by the United Nations in 2000 in order to end global poverty.

The report shows that a number of targets are set to be met, for example, in fighting the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. However, there are also other goals, such as reducing the number of child deaths, which will not be reached.

In the lung health field, other important statistics to note include:

• Two-thirds of deaths worldwide are due to noncommunicable diseases.
• Over one-third of adult men smoke tobacco.
• Only 1 in 3 African children with suspected pneumonia receives antibiotics.

Global leaders will come together this September to set new post-2015 goals for 2030.

Read the original press release. 

Read the report.