How many people died today?

Around 160,000 people died today.

Did you know that?

That's from all causes. For all of humanity. Around the world.

That's working off 2019 figures, estimating the daily numbers of human deaths, based on the total for the year. For the first four months of 2020, we could estimate that a little under 19.5 million people have died, across the globe. Does that figure ring any bells? Does it easily spring to mind? Have you seen it emblazoned every day across whatever source you get your news from? No?

In about the same time frame, since late December 2019, there have been just over 217,000 confirmed deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. You probably had a better idea of that figure, didn't you?

The world is doing a great deal to prevent further deaths due to Covid-19, and to treat those who have the disease. That's as it should be, and I am happy that the world, or most countries at least, are taking action to save lives from this global health problem. I hope we can save a lot of lives.

For the other 19.5 million people who have died so far this year, the large majority of those deaths were preventable. When prevention failed, many more of those people could have been saved with treatment, with adequate healthcare. Most of those people did not have to die, at all. Or they did not have to die now. We could have stopped those deaths. We, global humanity, could have saved those lives. We could have saved many millions of those people. But we didn't. We still don't. And we don't pay attention. We try, and the WHO and others do as good a job as they can, of keeping track of them, and of taking action to save people. But generally, we don't. You don't see those numbers updated daily on your news feeds. You don't see the causes of death listed. You don't see the numbers of cases of the diseases that led to the majority those deaths, or the injuries that caused the rest. You are not told about the healthcare systems that cannot treat or care for these millions of people or stop their easily-preventable deaths. The lack of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers needed to treat and save those millions of people. The lack of medicine. The lack of public health education. The lack of economic and social supports. We don't know. We aren't told. And we don't act. And millions of people die, who don't have to die, every month.

I want us to save lives when it comes to Covid-19. I want us to treat and save everyone possible from this disease, around the world. But I want us to remember too all the other people who have died of other causes. And I want us to do more, much more, to prevent human deaths. All human deaths. Everywhere. With Covid-19 we have seen what can be done. Incredible, impossible, previously-dismissed-out-of-hand things have been done, are being done, to address Covid-19. I hope we can take what is happening for Covid-19 and apply it for all of humanity, for all of human health. We can decide that no-one should die needlessly. This experience of this disease at this time can help us see the reality of human health, and human death, worldwide. Tens of millions of human lives and deaths. I hope this experience can help us realise that there are many other pandemics happening right now. Many other health problems that deserve attention, funding, radical action. Many, many more lives that can be saved. We can do it. We can end unnecessary death. It's not simple. But it is possible. Let's do it.

Sources:
United Nations (UN), World Mortality 2019 [pdf]

World Health Organisation (WHO), Global Health Observatory