Looking back at 2025, the world experienced both remarkable achievements and serious challenges in global health. Multilateralism, science and solidarity have been tested like never before, highlighting a fundamental truth: international cooperation is not optional. This is essential to protect and promote the health of everyone, everywhere, in 2026 and beyond.
Perhaps the most important milestone is the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement by WHO member states, a landmark step towards making the world safer from future pandemics. In parallel, amendments to the International Health Regulations came into force, including a new “pandemic emergency” alert level aimed at triggering stronger global cooperation. And to sustainably fund WHO’s work, governments have demonstrated historic support and increased contributions to the core budget. Taken together, these measures demonstrate what multilateralism can deliver when countries choose to cooperate rather than divide.
Countries are currently negotiating the pandemic agreement’s pathogen access and benefit-sharing systems. It aims to ensure rapid sharing of pathogen and gene sequence data and fair access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. We hope that this work will be completed by May next year so that the entire agreement can begin to enter into force as international law.
Beyond pandemic preparedness, WHO advanced public health on many fronts in 2025. We tested the vaccine’s safety and life-saving effectiveness. Published guidance on innovations such as injectable lenacapavir for HIV prevention and GLP-1 therapy for obesity. It responded to humanitarian crises from Gaza and Sudan to Ukraine. Helped countries achieve universal health coverage through locally tailored solutions and sustainable financing. And the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark political declaration to tackle non-communicable diseases and mental health, the deadliest and most widespread health threats of our time.
Science is important. Evidence matters. Trust is key.
WHO and its partners therefore focused continued efforts on strengthening vaccine safety, efficacy and use throughout 2025. We are committed to keeping this a priority in 2026. Immunization remains one of the most powerful public health interventions in history, saving millions of lives each year. The effect is obvious. Global measles deaths have fallen by 88% since 2000. Malaria vaccines are currently being rolled out in 24 African countries. Additionally, 86 million girls have been vaccinated against human papillomavirus, which helps prevent cervical cancer.
At the same time, WHO reaffirmed the safety of vaccines and emphasized the importance of routine immunization to protect children from highly contagious diseases such as measles, polio, hepatitis B and diphtheria. Over the past 25 years, the global under-five mortality rate has more than halved, from 11 million to 4.8 million a year, and vaccines have been central to this progress. Vaccinations are not a luxury. It is an essential medical service. This is the basis of universal health care and is essential for children to grow up to be healthy adults.
In 2025, the WHO also reviewed major achievements in eliminating the disease. The Maldives has become the first country to achieve triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B. Burundi, Egypt and Fiji have eliminated trachoma. Guinea and Kenya have eradicated sleeping sickness. Niger has become the first country in Africa to eradicate river blindness. And Brazil has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Georgia, Suriname and Timor-Leste have been declared malaria-free. We hope to see more successes like this this year.
Last year, we also took a major step forward in tackling obesity, one of the fastest growing global health challenges. More than 1 billion people worldwide live with the chronic, recurrent disease of obesity, which contributes to other non-communicable diseases and worsens infectious disease outcomes. WHO has published the first guidelines for the use of GLP-1 therapy for obesity, with conditional recommendations recognizing that obesity requires comprehensive lifelong care. Medicines alone cannot solve the obesity crisis. But evidence-based tools, used responsibly and equitably, can reduce suffering and improve quality of life.
Rapid advances in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, genomics, and advanced data science are also transforming healthcare. In 2026, WHO will continue to help countries integrate these innovations into their health systems and transform them into scalable solutions. Initiatives such as digital self-monitoring of blood pressure for pregnant women demonstrate how innovation can strengthen primary health care and expand access, especially in rural and remote areas.
Universal health coverage remains our common destination. Since 2000, access to health services and financial protection for about a third of people has improved, but progress has stalled. Today, 4.6 billion people still lack access to essential health services, and more than one in four people face financial hardship due to health costs. This is not inevitable. We can and must make progress.
In response to the crisis, WHO supported 48 emergencies in 79 countries in 2025, affecting more than 30 million people. This comes amid growing risks on the ground and deep cuts in overseas medical aid that could last until 2026. WHO’s work ranges from a cholera vaccination campaign in Sudan to evacuating seriously ill and injured people from Gaza for treatment abroad. And we will continue to work with our partners to alleviate the suffering of people in crisis. Still, the conflict continues to take a heavy toll, and attacks on health care are on the rise in violation of international law. Healthcare should never be a target.
The past year has highlighted the resilience and collaborative power of the global health community. The adoption of the Pandemic Agreement and our success in eradicating the disease reflects our ability to make progress. But inequalities and funding cuts persist, putting the world’s most vulnerable people at continued risk.
Towards 2026, we must prioritize population health to ensure universal coverage and a healthier world for all. In doing so, we can realize the World Health Organization’s vision since 1948 for people to achieve the highest standards of health not as a privilege for a few but as a right for all.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
