In his year-end address, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus heaped praise on the declaration in May of the end point of the Covid-19 international public health emergency.
“This marked a turning point for the world following three years of crisis, pain and loss for people everywhere. I am glad to see that life has returned to normal,” he said.
WHO´s chief also mentioned the approval of new vaccines for malaria, dengue and meningitis, diseases that threaten millions around the globe, mainly the most vulnerable.
Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Belize were declared malaria free, and a range of neglected tropical diseases were eliminated in multiple countries, including sleeping sickness in Ghana, trachoma in Benin, Mali and Iraq, and lymphatic filariasis in Bangladesh and Lao.
The path to eradicating another vaccine-preventable disease – polio – has reached its last mile.
Thirty more countries introduced the HPV vaccine as the world advances toward eliminating cervical cancer.
The need to address the health impacts of the climate crisis were elevated to the highest political levels, with governments, scientists and advocates putting health, for the first time, prominently on the COP28 agenda, and issuing a global declaration on climate and health.
Each of these achievements, and many more, demonstrated the power of science, solutions and solidarity to protect and promote health.
But 2023 has also been a year of immense and avoidable suffering and threats to health.
The barbaric attacks by Hamas on Israel on the 7th of October left around 1300 people dead and over 200 taken hostage. Reports of gender-based violence and mistreatment of hostages are deplorable.
This was followed by the unleashing of a devastating attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 20,000 people – mainly women and children – and injured over 53,000.
At the same time, hospitals and health workers have been repeatedly attacked, while relief efforts are not coming close to meeting the needs of people.
As of 22 December, only 9 of 36 health facilities in Gaza were partially functional, with only four offering the most basic of services in the north.
War and armed hostilities, sadly, have plagued too many other locations around the world, including Sudan, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Myanmar, to name but a few.
I saw first-hand the suffering of war-weary people in North-West Syria who, like communities I also visited in neighbouring Türkiye, were devastated by the terrible earthquake in February.
Without peace, there is no health, and without health there can be no peace. The resurgence of cholera is especially concerning, with a record number of 40-plus outbreaks around the world.
And in terms of emergency preparedness and response, gaps remain in the world’s readiness to prevent the next pandemic.
Governments are negotiating the first-ever global agreement to protect communities, countries and the world from the threat posed by pandemics.
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