Global Health Rewind 2024: A Year of Surprises & Setbacks

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Highlights:

• Resurgence of infectious diseases, including measles and polio
• Growing threat of antimicrobial resistance
• Climate change is exacerbating existing health challenges

"The greatest wealth is to be healthy."

As the Roman poet Virgil eloquently stated, This timeless wisdom resonates profoundly as we reflect on the global health landscape of 2024. The year 2024 was a year full of challenges and opportunities in the sphere of worldwide public health . As the crisis unfolded at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was stabilized and, to some extent, even eased, new and chronic threats appeared that required complex and versatile protection of the world's health (1^✔).

‘Measles outbreaks surged globally in 2024, emphasizing the importance of strong immunization programs. #measles #vaccination #publichealth #2024 #globalhealth #medindia’

Navigating the Rising Tide of Health Challenges

The Resurgence of Infectious Diseases: Last year saw a worrisome spike in infectious diseases more so the communicable ones. Measles incidence increased across many countries because of reduced vaccine coverage linked to misperceptions about vaccines and vaccination. Similar, more preventable diseases were on the rise, such as pertussis and even polio. Immunization programmes remained fragile across the world.

The Looming Shadow of Antimicrobial Resistance: Communicable diseases remained highly dangerous, in particular the growth of microbes resistant to antibiotics and antifungal agents. Fewer options for controlling these infections increased the morbidity and mortality rates, leading to the development of more solutions to reduce the increasing trend in this social vice.

The Climate Crisis: Another unrelenting force, climate change, remained on the rise, affecting human health in various ways. Many disasters took place such as high temperatures affected the rates of developing heat illnesses, infectious diseases, and respiratory ailments.

The Mental Health Crisis Deepens: There was a worsening of the global mental health situation characterized by a high incidence of anxiety, depression, and other related disorders. This speaks volumes about the need to improve provisions of mental health care, change or eliminate negative attitudes towards mental health care, and improve the overall well-being.

The Growing Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases: The level of incidence of diseases which are long-lasting and non-communicable such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer or diabetes did not reduce but rather increased, especially in LMICs. Such diseases can be attributed to life styles factors such as inadequate nutrition, lack of exercise and tobacco consumption.

Advancements and Oppurtunities in Healthcare in 2024

Technological Advancements Transforming Healthcare:

AI and machine learning had a significant impact in healthcare throughout the year, including in diagnostics, new drug development, and precision medicine. Digital health was enhanced to progress health care delivery, increasing the chances of health care services especially among patients from remote areas with limited access to health care facilities.

A Renewed Focus on Health Equity: While the previous year was marked by a general focus on health inequalities and the need for equitable access to health for every population group irrespective of their status in terms of wealth, color, or where they lived in the world in 2024.

Strengthening Global Health Collaboration: Intergovernmental relations as well as cooperation and collaboration between and among various nations, organizations, and researchers continued to be essential in dealing with current complex issues in global health, including the preparedness for and response to pandemics.

Paving the Way Ahead for 2025

As we move into 2025, several key areas will require continued attention and strategic action:

• Strengthening Primary Healthcare: There is no greater strategy than to develop and improve the quality of primary healthcare systems for the people, especially in certain regions of the world that are most needy.
• Combating Vaccine Hesitancy: Overcoming misconceptions, increasing citizens' confidence in vaccines, and increasing the availability of vaccines should be the key priorities for nations, to sustain a high percentage of vaccination and prevent the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases.
• Integrating Climate Change Considerations: There is a need for a cross-sectional approach in tackling the heat effects of climate change, which encompasses reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, climate change adjustment, and enhancing the capacity of the health sector to manage climate-borne health perils.
• Prioritizing Mental Health: Lowering stigmatization of mental disorders as well as offering easy access to mental health services and encouraging mental health will be paramount in meeting the increasing demands of mental health.
• Addressing the NCD Epidemic: Measures for risk factors reduction including tobacco use, encouraging healthy diets and expanding availability of fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables need to be put in place.
• Expanding and Refining Telehealth: Like most innovations, more works have to be done to further extend high quality telehealth services by overcoming the barriers associated with data privacy and availability to all populace.

Within the multifaceted and dynamic space of global health in 2024, we saw an important lesson on the connection between human, animal, and environmental health. As daunting as the year was, there were plenty of examples of people's ability to sustain themselves, innovate, and come together. With some hard work, political will, and effort, the needed shift towards a cure-focused, communicative, and comprehensive prevention of diseases, and investment in public health care infrastructures will be attained to create a better future for generations to come.

Reference:

1. The top global health stories from 2024 - (https:www.weforum.org/stories/2024/12/top-global-health-stories-2024/ )

Source: Medindia

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