Armenia ranked 86th among 188 countries in UN health goals study

Armenia ranked 86th among 188 countries in UN health goals study

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is ranked 86th overall in the world in making progress towards the United Nations’ health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The UN General Assembly established the SDGs in September 2015, to replace the millennium development goal (MDG) framework that expired last year. The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. The authors of the latest assessment of progress, published in the medical journal The Lancet, have compared 33 health-related SDG indicators across 188 countries. The report rescales each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed) to 100 (best observed), analyzing data from the most recent year, i.e. 2015.

With a general SDG index of 61, Armenia has registered excellent results (100 points) in indicators like SBE (Skilled birth attendance, i.e. the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel), Malaria (age-standardised rate of malaria cases), NTDs (Neglected tropical diseases, i.e. age-standardised prevalence of neglected tropical diseases), and War (age-standardised death rate due to collective violence and legal intervention).

Also, the country registered fairly good results in indicators like Stunting - 80, Wasting - 87, Alcohol – 79 (risk-weighted prevalence of alcohol consumption), UHC tracer -85 (coverage of universal health coverage tracer interventions for prevention and treatment services), Intimate partner violence – 80 (age-standardised prevalence of women aged 15 years and older who experienced intimate partner violence), Sanitation – 80, Household air pollution – 98.

According to the report, Armenia is doing poorly on some of the indicators – notably those relating to water (risk-weighted prevalence of populations using unsafe or unimproved water sources) and Hepatitis B. Also, the country scored average in measures like Maternal, Under-5, Neonatal mortality ratios, Road injuries, Adolescent birth rate, Hygiene and others.

The report said Azerbaijan took the 75th spot overall, Turkey came in the 103rd, followed by Iran and Georgia in the 104th and 106th spots, respectively.

The U.S. is ranked 28th overall, just above Estonia and New Zealand (its worst performing indicators were violence, HIV and self-harm), Russia is the 119th (its worst measures were for alcohol consumption, self-harm and violence).

In 2015, the health-related SDG index was highest in Iceland, Singapore, and Sweden, with the UK ranking in 5th place just ahead of Finland. The Central African Republic, Somalia, and South Sudan had the lowest values of the health-related SDG index.

Not a single country had met any target on eliminating tuberculosis and viruses like HIV, or reducing weight problems in childhood and partner violence, the report said.

On the positive side, the majority of countries have already met the 2030 targets of reducing maternal and child mortality, it added.

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