While healthy life expectancy in Africa has increased 10 years between the turn of the century and 2019, the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) assessment report says it’s still not on a par with the global average.
The report says you can live up to 56 years in a healthy state in Africa, compared with 46 years in the year 2000 – but the global average is 64 years.
It attributes the positive upward trend to the accelerated fight against malaria, HIV/Aids and other diseases, reports News24.
Speaking at the report’s launch, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said: “The sharp rise in healthy life expectancy during the past two decades is a testament to the region’s drive for improved health and well-being of the population.
“At its core, it means more people are living healthier, longer lives, with fewer threats of infectious diseases and with better access to care and disease prevention services.”
COVID-19 had disrupted healthcare in many African countries: more than 90% of the 36 countries that responded to the 2021 WHO survey reported one or more disruptions to essential health services. Immunisation, neglected tropical diseases and nutrition services were the worst affected, and since the vaccine roll-out, all of them have been trying to restore essential health services.
The report said improvements in essential health services, gains in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, and progress in the fight against infectious diseases, thanks to the scale-up of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria control measures from 2005, all helped to extend healthy life expectancy.
Dr Lindiwe Makubalo, the WHO's assistant regional director for Africa, said the progress must not be interrupted, and that African countries should expedite measures against the threat of cancer and other non-communicable diseases.
The report noted that high and upper-middle income countries had better health service coverage and higher healthy life expectancy at birth than lower-income countries, with around 10 additional years of healthy life expectancy.
In Africa, only Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, eSwatini, Gabon, Seychelles and South Africa fund more than 50% of their national health budgets.
WHO life expectancy report
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COVID reduced South African life expectancy by 3.5 years
Pandemic triggers biggest fall in life expectancy in decades — 29-country study
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Rural life expectancy differences due to TB and violence