WHO: Equitable Access to Health Care Needed in Post-COVID World

GENEVA - The World Health Organization is launching a campaign to build a fairer, healthier post-pandemic world by tackling poverty and health inequities. In marking this year’s World Health Day, the WHO is issuing a call for action to improve the health of all people.

The COVID-19 pandemic reveals in stark detail the disparities that exists between those who have access to the health care and vaccines that are likely to save their lives and those who do not and are more likely to die from this disease. Latest World Health Organization figures show close to 132 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including more than 2.8 million deaths globally. The U.N. agency says so far, more than 604 million vaccine doses have been administered, most in about a dozen of the world’s wealthiest countries. While everyone is affected by the pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the poorest and most marginalized are hardest hit in terms of lives and livelihoods lost. He says vital changes must be made in the year ahead to achieve greater equity between the haves and have-nots.