The COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opportunity to Assess the Global Health Status

ABSTRACT

According to WHO "As long as one child is infected all countries are at risk to get 200,000 new cases per year" [6, 7]. * TB claims 1.5 million lives each year. Three million cases were missed by the detection systems and the funding to combat the disease was back to the 2016 level that year [8-10]. * The number of cholera cases remains high and many are not reported. [...]it can be re-introduced into many countries like it was in Haiti in the 2010 [11-13]. * Due to the sylvatic cycle in Africa yellow fever cannot be realistically eradicated [14-17]. * Because of the cattle and wild animal reservoirs of Trypanosoma rhodesiense in East Africa, sleeping sickness cannot be practically eradicated. * In 2007, WHO announced a renewed strategy to eliminate Chagas' disease by 2010. The main problems linked to the elimination of malaria have not been tackled like deforestation, agricultural expansion, infrastructure development, the biological differences in Anopheles species adapted to different landscapes, human and mosquito migrations, travelers, climate change [24-26]. * The discovery of a dog-fish cycle in Chad renders a lasting elimination of dracunculiasis improbable [27-28]. Most worrisome are the trends for the diseases mentioned above and there is no sign of imminent or short term eradication. [...]lack of capacity is the main obstacle to adequate healthcare in developing countries [30]. * Quantitatively, data are dismal [31]. * Quality wise, the gap is huge and increasing [32]. * Unfortunately, the evolution in various places is not toward improvement particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. * Questions have not been raised on the unreliable origin and misutilization of resources.