Loneliness is a health emergency that can shorten life, trigger illnesses, and must be fought.
This was declared for the first time in an official resolution of an American local government by the county of San Mateo in the splendid bay of San Francisco, California.
Right where rich Silicon Valley is located, but where 45% of residents said they felt lonely.
San Mateo thus follows the state of New York, where a few months ago an 'honorary ambassador' for the fight against loneliness was established.
The American 'Surgeon General' himself, Vivek Murthy - the chief executive of the 'Public Health Service Commissioned Corps' and the spokesperson for public health issues in the federal government - had raised the alarm about the growing "isolation of Americans even before the pandemic" , remembering that loneliness is a 'preventable' cause of premature death like smoking.
The Institute of Aging and other studies have linked loneliness to increased risks of diabetes, Alzheimer's, alcoholism, heart disease and even autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis.
The San Mateo County resolution aims to allocate $47 million for projects such as creating parks for community activities, increasing public transportation, establishing paid leave for workers so they spend more free time , the construction of new libraries with social activities.
But isolation is on the rise across much of the globe.
The latest Meta-Gallup survey on the 'Global State of Social Connectedness' conducted in 140 countries gave somewhat surprising results: on average around the world, 24% of people surveyed said they felt socially isolated.
In the lead there are some African and Asian countries.
In the USA, at a national level, 17% of Americans suffer from loneliness.
The countries where citizens feel most connected are Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
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