A new decade-long study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation into the worldwide distribution of disease sheds light on the overall health status of more than 180 countries. How does the United States compare with the rest of the developed world? The results aren’t so promising. [1]
According to the study, which was published in the Lancet, the United States is actually doing fairly well in a few areas: water, sanitation, and child development. But that doesn’t necessarily outweigh its negatives. Violence pushed America further back in terms of survival rates, while these other issues seriously need to be addressed:
- HIV
- Obesity
- Suicide
- Alcohol abuse
- Response to natural disasters
The United States also has no room to brag when it comes to maternal mortality. Despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing the rate of maternal death by 75% by 2015, the maternal death rate has risen alarmingly over the past several years across the United States. According to this recent study, the U.S. came in at number 64 for the number of women dying for every 100,000 births, which is a pretty grim figure.
The statistics for children dying under the age of 5 were also not acceptable for a developed country, as the United States ranks 40 when it comes to the mortality of children under 5.
So who is actually doing well? According to the study, Iceland, which just edged out Singapore and Sweden for the number 1 spot, has been lauded for its anti-tobacco efforts, as well as its attentive universal healthcare system. Colombia, though ranked lower than the US, got a special mention for the expansion of its healthcare to include coverage of cancer. And Tajikistan was able to practically eradicate malaria in the 1990’s after reforming its healthcare system, so those who created the study gave it an extra pat on the back.
The research was measured against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but unfortunately, researchers were only able to cover 70% of them. Many criticized the goals as being senseless or difficult to measure, but others still argue that the world can’t move forward if we don’t know where we stand currently. [2]
In all areas of the world and regardless of development, all countries now have a marked problem with obesity. Childhood obesity has, particularly, become more of an issue across the board, and one that now must be addressed by every almost every country.
Sources:
[1] IFL Science
[2] Bloomberg