Health in the Commonwealth 

The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being...” (WHO Constitution)

The Commonwealth’s 54 states account for almost a third of the world’s population, but two-thirds of global HIV/AIDS cases, two-thirds of global maternal deaths, two-thirds of global children under five suffering from malnutrition and nearly half of infant deaths in the world  (Commonwealth Secretariat).

With less than five years remaining to the Millennium Development Goals end date of 2015, the Commonwealth still faces major challenges in health. Maternal and infant mortality and morbidity remains high in many Commonwealth Sub-Saharan African countries and some Commonwealth countries in Asia and South Pacific.

Faced with serious, often escalating challenges, communities throughout the developing world have urgent needs for health and development education and particularly for approaches that link participatory learning to action, both individual and collective.

Maternal and child health

• More than half a million die annually of pregnancy-related causes, 99% of them in developing countries (Commonwealth Secretariat). The top 10 highest rates of maternal deaths are all Commonwealth countries: Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Malawi, Cameroon, Lesotho, Tanzania, Zambia, Gambia, Bangladesh and Kenya (WHO 2005).

HIV/AIDS

• Women and girls still account for half of the people living with HIV worldwide, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for nearly 60% of HIV infections. (UNAIDS)
• Eight Commonwealth nations have HIV incidence rates above 10%, three have rates above 20% (UNAIDS).

Healthy lifestyles

• 380 million people will develop diabetes by 2025; in Kiribati, diabetes already accounts for 8% of deaths nationwide (WHO).
• Heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic pulmonary diseases have become a burden on the health systems of developed countries. It’s estimated that non-communicable diseases will cause 7 out of every 10 deaths in developing countries by 2020 (Commonwealth Secretariat).

Environmental health

• There will be 2.7 billion people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. (WHO/UNICEF joint Monitoring program for water and sanitation 2010)
• 2.6 billion people worldwide still lack access to proper sanitation – including 1.2 billion who have no facilities at all. Sanitation coverage is lowest in South Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of people do not have access.

“The attainment of health is a most important social goal” which “requires the action of many other social and economic sectors in addition to the health sector” (WHO1978/Alma Ata Declaration)