more than 90 of countries have seen ordinary health services disrupted by the covid19 pandemic with major gains in medical care attained over decades vulnerable to being wiped out in a short period a world health organization survey showed the genevabased body has frequently warned about other lifesaving programmes being impacted by the pandemic and has sent countries mitigation advice but the survey yielded the first who data so far on the scale of disruptions the impact of the covid19 pandemic on essential health services is a source of great concern said a report on the study released on monday major health gains achieved over the past two decades can be wiped out in a short period of time the survey includes responses from between may and july from more than 100 countries among the most affected services were routine immunisations 70 family planning 68 and cancer diagnosis and treatment 55 while emergency services were disturbed in almost a quarter of responding countries the eastern mediterranean region which includes afghanistan syria and yemen was most affected followed by the african and southeast asian regions it showed the americas was not part of the survey since covid19 cases were first identified in december last year the virus is thought to have killed nearly 850000 people the latest reuters tally showed researchers think that noncovid deaths have also increased in some places due partly to health service disruptions although these may be harder to calculatethe who survey said it was reasonable to anticipate that even a modest disruption in essential health services could lead to an increase in morbidity and mortality from causes other than covid19 in the short to medium and longterm further research was needed it also warned that the disruptions could be felt even after the pandemic ends the impact may be felt beyond the immediate pandemic as in trying to catch up on services countries may find that resources are overwhelmed