By Susan Scutti
Are nations around the globe on track to meet health-related sustainable development goals for the year 2030? A new analysis finds outstanding achievements -- but a great deal of work still needed -- before the goals can be reached.
This is based on measurements of 37 of 50 health-related targets proposed by the United Nations that include infant mortality, vaccination, rates of various diseases (tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria, among them), smoking, child abuse, violence and universal health coverage.The study, published Tuesday in the journal The Lancet, also ranks 188 nations. Singapore is at the top of the list, followed by Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Israel, Malta, Switzerland and the UK. The United States trails these standout nations, landing in the 24th spot on the index.
At the opposite end were Afghanistan, which ranked last, preceded by Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.
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The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent research center within UW Medicine and one of the Department of Global Health's key partners, led this study.