The average life expectancy in the African region has increased on average by 10 years per person between 2000 and 2019, WHO said
WHO said, the rise is greater than any other region of the world during the same period
WHO also cautioned that the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of this period could have a disruptive impact on these huge gains going forward
WHO shared the details in its new report titled ‘Tracking Universal Health Coverage in the WHO African Region 2020’
The report was launched during an online media briefing on Friday from its headquarters in Brazzaville
WHO said that the number of years an individual is in a good state of health—increased to 56 years in 2019, compared with 46 in 2000
While the increase in life expectancy in Africa is still well below the global average of 64, over the same period, global healthy life expectancy increased by only five years, the report said
The reasons cited were improvements in the provision of essential health services, gains in reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health, and fight against infectious diseases
In particular, the rapid scale-up of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control measures from 2005 helped to extend healthy life expectancy
Essential health service coverage on the African continent improved to 46 per cent in 2019, compared with 24 per cent in 2000