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WHO: Equitable Access to Health Care Needed in Post-COVID World

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The World Health Organization is launching a campaign to build
   a fairer, healthier post-pandemic world by tackling poverty and health
   inequities. In marking this year's World Health Day, the WHO is issuing
   a call for action to improve the health of all people.

   The COVID-19 pandemic reveals in stark detail the disparities that
   exists between those who have access to the health care and vaccines
   that are likely to save their lives and those who do not and are more
   likely to die from this disease.

   Latest World Health Organization figures show close to 132 million
   confirmed cases of COVID-19, including more than 2.8 million deaths
   globally. The U.N. agency says so far, more than 604 million vaccine
   doses have been administered, most in about a dozen of the world's
   wealthiest countries.
   FILE - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, speaks in
   Geneva, Jan. 21, 2021.

   While everyone is affected by the pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros
   Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the poorest and most marginalized are hardest
   hit in terms of lives and livelihoods lost. He says vital changes must
   be made in the year ahead to achieve greater equity between the haves
   and have-nots.

   "We need to invest in equitable production and access to COVID-19 rapid
   tests, oxygen, treatments and vaccines between and within