Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) in Taiwan fell to 71.4 years in 2021, down 10.4 months from the previous year, marking the largest decline in 21 years, the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to blame for the drop, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Chiu Cheng-hsun (邱政洵), who also is a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said yesterday.
HALE, defined as the average length of time a person can live in full health, globally plummeted by 1.5 years to 61.9 years from 2019 to 2021, the WHO said in a news release on Friday.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
This means that HALE in Taiwan began showing signs of significant decline a year later than the world, Chiu said, adding that the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 can cause long-lasting damage to health, including an increased risk of stroke.
The lesson of the government’s response to COVID-19 is the importance of strengthening preventive medicine and medical infrastructure before another pathogen capable of causing serious harm to public health strikes again, he said.
Influenza is one of the infectious diseases that pose a similar risk to health, Chiu said.
Improved preventive medicine, faster introduction of new drugs and technology, better access to health checkups are crucial for public health, Shin Kong Hospital vice superintendent Hung Tzu-jen (洪子仁) said.
Improving case management in healthcare, subsidized cancer screening for younger Taiwanese and post-operative patient care are some of the WHO recommendations that Taiwan can adopt, Hung said.
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