Healthy Life Spans Can Increase by 5 to 10 Years: WHO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 31, 2002

Healthy Life Spans Can Increase by 5 to 10 Years: WHO

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Healthy life expectancy worldwide can be increased by five to 10 years if governments and individuals make joint efforts against the major health risks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

In its World Health Report 2002, entitled "Preventing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life", the WHO identified some major global risks of disease, disability and death in the world today and provided examples of cost-effective ways to reduce these risks.

From more than 25 major preventable risks selected for in-depth study, the report found that the top 10 globally are: childhood and maternal underweight; unsafe sex; high blood pressure; tobacco; alcohol; unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene; high cholesterol; indoor smoke from solid fuels; iron deficiency and overweight.

"This report provides a road map for how societies can tackle a wide range of preventable conditions that are killing millions of people prematurely and robbing tens of millions of healthy life," said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland.

The WHO called the contrast between rich and poor people "shocking." The report pointed out that some 170 million children in poor countries are underweight, mainly from lack of food, whilemore than 1 billion adults worldwide are overweight or obese. About half a million people in North America and Western Europe die from overweight-related disease every year.

The WHO warned that the "cost of inaction is serious." The report predicted that unless action is taken, by the year 2020 there will be 9 million deaths caused by tobacco, compared to almost 5 million a year now; 5 million deaths attributable to overweight and obesity, compared to 3 million now.

WHO experts held that if all these preventable risks could be addressed as the WHO recommended, healthy life expectancy could increase as much as 16 plus years in parts of Africa. Even in the richer developed countries, such as European countries, the United States, Australia and Japan, healthy life spans would increase by about five years.

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