<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Nearly 337 million life years were lost in the two first years of the Covid-19 pandemic, as millions of people died prematurely, the World Health Organization said on Friday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The UN health agency's annual world statistics report also showed a swelling&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">threat from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, cancer&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">and diabetes.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The most dramatic finding, based on data up to 2022, was the estimate of how&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">many years of life Covid had taken, WHO said.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The pandemic has wreaked global devastation and officially killed nearly&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">seven million people, with the true figure believed to be closer to 20&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">million.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The WHO report lays bare how the virus itself and the broader impact of the&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">crisis abruptly cut short the lives of millions of people.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">While the WHO officially registered 5.4 million Covid deaths in 2020 and&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">2021, its excess mortality data shows around 14.9 million people actually&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">likely died due to the crisis over that period.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even more striking, perhaps, it said the statistics show that during those</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">two years alone, Covid resulted in the loss globally of 336.8 million years&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">that otherwise would have been lived.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's like losing 22 years of life for every excess death," Samira Asma,</div><div style="text-align: justify;">WHO's assistant chief for data and analytics, told reporters ahead of the</div><div style="text-align: justify;">launch.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Off-track -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Significant inequities underpin the distribution of Covid-19 cases and</div><div style="text-align: justify;">deaths, as well as access to vaccinations," the report said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The WHO warned that the pandemic had helped throw off-track many health-&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">related indicators that had been improving for years.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the first two decades of the century, the world saw significant</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">improvements in maternal and child health, with deaths falling by one-third&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">and one-half respectively.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The incidence of infectious diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria also&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">declined significantly, as did the risk of premature death from NCDs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Global life expectance rose from 67 years in 2000 to 73 in 2019.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But after the pandemic hit, existing inequalities in access to high-quality&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">health care, routine immunisations and financial protection deepened, among&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">other things sending the long improving trends on malaria and TB in the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">opposite direction.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Stark message' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">And while the world still enjoys health progress overall, the share of deaths&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">caused each year by NCDs has grown, the study showed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">In 2000, around 61 percent of global deaths annually were linked to NCDs. By&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">2019, almost 74 percent were.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"If this trend continues, NCDs are projected to account for about 86 percent&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">of the 90 million annual deaths by mid-century," WHO said in a statement.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"The report sends a stark message on the threat of noncommunicable diseases,&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">which take an immense and increasing toll," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Ghebreyesus said.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The findings, he said, show the need for "a substantial increase in</div><div style="text-align: justify; ">investments in health and health systems to get back on track towards the&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Sustainable Development Goals."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">NCD deaths were increasing despite a reduction in exposure to many health&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">risks, including tobacco use, alcohol consumption and unsafe water and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">sanitation, WHO said.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Exposure to other risks like air pollution however remained high, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The report warned in particular that the prevalence of obesity was growing&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1rem;">with no sign of reversal. AFP</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>