USA - A sobering article on America's life expectancy crisis : Washington Post / Kul Gautam

Deeply related to lack of universal health care; child poverty & inequality; high rates of gun violence; junk food, drug abuse, etc. 

Good advocacy points for UNICEF USA, RESULTS.org, SCF, Oxfam, church groups, etc.

Wish this were an election campaign issue.

Kul 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/12/28/life-expectancy-no-political-response/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most



America has a life expectancy crisis. But it’s not a political priority.
No national strategy exists to reverse a years-long slide that has left the United States trailing peer nations in life expectancy.

www.washingtonpost.com

Article Summary:

• Life expectancy in the US fell for the second year in a row in 2021, declining by nearly 1 year from 2020. It is now 76.1 years, the lowest since 1996. This reverses a long trend of improving life expectancy.
• The declines are largely driven by increases in deaths from COVID-19, drug overdoses, chronic liver disease, and suicide. Heart disease and cancer remain leading causes of death.
• Other wealthy countries have avoided similar sustained drops in life expectancy during the pandemic. The US is an outlier in experiencing consecutive years of decline.
• Experts see the drops as a sign of deeper societal problems in areas like health care, mental health, addiction, and social services that are not being adequately addressed.
• There has been little major political action in response to the concerning life expectancy trends. Health and social welfare initiatives have stalled at the federal level due to partisan divides.
• Some public health experts and advocates argue the drops in life expectancy should be spurring policy change and action, but there has been more focus on short-term issues than structural reforms.
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In summary, life expectancy in the US is declining but there has been minimal policy response so far to what experts see as a warning sign of deeper societal problems needing attention.