Life expectancy stands at 49 and 47 for women and men

MBABANE – The life expectancy of both men and women in the country has dropped significantly according to figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) The figures were announced by WHO, as per their annual health statistics.

In the country, women live to 49 years on average, which shows a drop of 14 years, while men live to 47 years old on average, a decline of 12 years.
In Africa, the West African country of Sierra Leone has the shortest life expectancy for men at 39.
A girl born in Japan today will likely live to celebrate her 86th birthday, the longest life expectancy anywhere in the world. Men fare best in the tiny, wealthy European nation of San Marino, where the average boy will live to 81.

The data also showed that some countries have made remarkable progress in increasing life expectancy since 1990, partly by ending wars, partly through successful health initiatives. Other African countries, meanwhile, showed a sharp decline since 1990, especially in Africa.
Eritrea increased its average life expectancy during that period by 33 years to 61 for men, and by 12 years to 65 for women. In Liberia, the figure for men jumped 29 years to 54, and rose 13 years to 58 for women.
Angola, Bangladesh, Maldives, Niger and East Timor also increased their average life expectancies for both men and women by full 10 years.

In the United States of America (USA), the life expectancy was on the rise for both sexes, but not so dramatically: up to 76 from 72 years for men, and to 81 from 79 for women.
In Zimbabwe, a year’s long economic crisis and rampant inflation have created serious shortages of food and medicine and forced medical workers to flee the country.
Those factors are among the reasons that women’s life expectancy fell by 19 years to 44 and the men’s average fell 12 years to 45.

The southern African nation of Lesotho recorded a 16-year drop for both men and women to 43 and 47 respectively.
Botswana, Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia also reported significant drops in life expectancy for both sexes.
In Russia, the average life expectancy for men drop-ped to 60 from 64 years since the time of the Soviet Union. For women the drop was less marked, to 73 from 74 years.

The figures are only one of over 100 health indicators that WHO tracks in its 193 member states. Others include mother and child mortality; prevalence of diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis; access to doctors and medical facilities; and health expenditure per person.
Some of these indicators form part of the U.N.’s so-called ‘Millennium Development Goals,’ which the global agency hopes to achieve by 2015.
WHO said the trend for deaths in young children was promising overall, with a global drop of 27 percent since 1990.
Some nine million children under 5 years old died in 2007, compared to 12.5 million in 1990.

“The decline in the death toll of children under five illustrates what can be achieved,” said WHO’s director of statistics, Ties Boerma.
The increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets for malaria, oral dehydration therapy for diarrhoea, better access to vaccines and improved water and sanitation in developing countries are proving particularly effective, he said.

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