A new World Health Organization (WHO) survey on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has reported disruptions in basic health services, such as vaccination programs and treatment of diseases like AIDS, in 92 percent of 129 countries, reported Reuters.
The survey, which was conducted in November-December 2021, found the services were severely impacted with little or no improvement from the previous survey in early 2021.
The WHO said that the results of the survey highlight the importance of urgent action to address major health system challenges, recover services and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey found that emergency care, which includes ambulance and ER services, worsened with 36% of countries reporting disruptions versus 29% in early 2021 and 21% in the 2020 survey. Elective operations such as hip and knee replacements were disrupted in 59% of the countries and gaps to rehabilitative and palliative care were reported in about half of them.
The survey was conducted at a time when COVID-19 cases were surging in many countries in late 2021 due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The WHO statement attributed the scale of disruptions to pre-existing health systems issues as well as decreased demand for care.
In related news, the WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that the world will feel the impact of Covid for decades even as the spread of the virus is slowing down across the world. He also added that the impact will be felt among the most vulnerable groups and the longer the pandemic drags on, the impact would be worse.
“The impact of the Covid pandemic will be felt for decades, especially among the most vulnerable groups. The longer the pandemic drags on, the worse those impacts will be,” Dr. Tedros said.
He pinpointed the wide disparity in vaccine supply to countries, saying that at present only 42 percent of the population of Commonwealth countries have received a double dose of vaccination.
