During the pandemic, health costs led more than half a billion people to poverty, according to Reuters

Author: Manas Mishra

(Reuters) – More than half a billion people worldwide have been pushed to the brink of poverty last year as health care costs were paid out of pocket during the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization and the World Bank said on Sunday. .

The pandemic disrupted health care worldwide and caused the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, making it even more difficult for people to pay for health care, according to a joint statement from the two organizations.

“All governments must immediately recover and accelerate their efforts to ensure that all their citizens have access to health services without fear of financial consequences,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Tedros called on governments to increase their focus on health care and to continue on the path to universal health coverage, as defined by the WHO to ensure access to health care for all without financial difficulties.

Health is a major political issue in the United States, one of the few industrialized countries without universal coverage for its citizens.

Globally, the pandemic has made things worse and reduced immunization coverage for the first time in ten years, raising deaths from tuberculosis and malaria.

“Within a limited fiscal area, governments will have to make tough choices to protect and increase health budgets,” said World Health, Food and Population Director-General Juan Pablo Uribe.