WHO Report on "World Health Statistics 2013"

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a report entitled  "World Health Statistics 2013". It contains the latest annual compilation of health-related data by WHO for its 194 member states. 

This annual report provides a wealth of information on global public health and includes a summary of the progress being made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and associated targets.

The annual WHO "World Health Statistics" report is the definitive source of information on the health of the world’s people.

According to this year's report –

Did you know...

• Every day, about 800 women die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
• In some countries, less than 10% of women who want to prevent pregnancy have access to any contraceptive methods.
• The Government of Luxembourg spends more money on health per person than any other country in the world.
• 80% of deaths from malaria occur in just 14 countries.
• Children in low-income countries are 16 times more likely to die before reaching the age of five, than children in high-income countries.
• China now has a higher life expectancy at birth than 7 of 10 countries in eastern Europe.
• Almost half of all countries surveyed have access to less than half the essential medicines they need for basic health care in the public sector.

This year, the annual report highlights efforts by member nations across the globe in reducing the gaps between the world’s most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries.

Finally, Section 6 of the report provides information on the Health Systems of member nations and the status of their infrastructure and use of technologies. One of the issues that jumps out at you as one reads this section of the report is the wide diversity of available information sources, and the considerable variability in the coverage and quality of data. So many countries are still have a long way to go in acquiring, installing, and using health information technologies (IT), like electronic health record (EHR) systems.

To obtain a copy of the report and find out more about the WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO), go the GHO Information Portal.

Check out the Resource Section of Open Health News (OHN) 'Knowledgebase' to find out about many other organizations and web sites providing access to high quality, free and 'Open Data' Resources  about population health and healthcare in the U.S. and other nations around the world.