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Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2020

Measuring Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage

image of Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2020

This sixth edition of Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific presents a set of key indicators of health status, the determinants of health, health care resources and utilisation, health care expenditure and financing and quality of care across 27 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. It also provides a series of dashboards to compare performance across countries and territories, and a thematic analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Asia/Pacific health systems. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, it builds on the format used in previous editions of Health at a Glance, and gives readers a better understanding of the factors that affect the health of populations and the performance of health systems in these countries and territories. Each of the indicators is presented in a user-friendly format, consisting of charts illustrating variations across countries and territories and over time, brief descriptive analyses highlighting the major findings conveyed by the data, and a methodological box on the definition of the indicators and any limitations in data comparability. An annex provides additional information on the demographic and economic context in which health systems operate.

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Life expectancy at birth and survival rate to age 65

Life expectancy at birth continues to increase remarkably in Asia-Pacific, reflecting sharp reductions in mortality rates at all ages, particularly among infants and children (see indicators “Infant mortality” and “Under age 5 mortality” in Chapter 3). These gains in longevity can be attributed to a number of factors, including rising living standards, better nutrition and improved drinking water and sanitation facilities (see indicator “Water and sanitation” in Chapter 4). Improved lifestyles, better education and enhanced access to health care also play an important role (WHO; US National Institute on Aging; National Institutes of Health;, 2011[1]). The large decline in under age 5 mortality, which reflects important commitment and investment at local, national, and global levels over several decades, is another major drive of the increase of life expectancy (Dicker et al., 2018[2]).

English

Graphs

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