my healthy lifestyle

People live longer and healthier lives but COVID-19 threatens to throw progress off track

29/08/2025Yosep

All over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods, and threatening the recent advances in health and progress towards global development goals highlighted in the 2020 World Health Statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) today .

“The good news is that people around the world are living longer and healthier lives. “The bad news is the rate of progress is too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and will be further thrown off track by COVID-19,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“The pandemic highlights the urgent need for all

The health disparities white paper disappearing shows a dangerous pattern for action on health

21/08/2025Yosep

Once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern. This saying came to mind on hearing that the long-awaited health disparities white paper is no longer going to be published. While this is not a surprise, it is nevertheless a decision that is deeply disappointed. Particularly when we know that good health remains out of reach for far too many people in the UK, that deep inequalities in health between the poorest and wealthiest are widening, and that failing to address poor health and economic inactivity will slow the nation’s economic recovery desperately needs.

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Quantifying health inequalities in England

18/08/2025Yosep

In Figure 3, we show the contribution of each condition to health disparities by age group. Absolute levels of inequality are very small for younger people, but this analysis shows that there is a clear transition of inequality across the life cycle. Children in more deprived areas are much more likely to be living with asthma, epilepsy and to experience alcohol problems and are less likely to be diagnosed with anxiety or depression. From the age of 20 we see greater differences in chronic pain, alcohol problems and anxiety and depression. From the age of 30 we begin to see