“Immense suffering that could have been avoided. » In his end-of-year video message, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, highlighted that this year marked a turning point in the fight against major health problems, but that there had also been “tremendous suffering which could have been avoided”.
After finally ending three years of Covid-related “crisis, suffering and loss” in 2023, the world must properly prepare for future pandemics, he said.
Agreement to close pandemic preparedness gaps
In his end-of-year message, Tedros urged countries to reach an “outstanding” deal to close preparedness gaps in the event of the next pandemic. “The year 2024 offers a unique opportunity to close these gaps,” he said, recalling that countries are negotiating the first-ever global agreement on pandemic threats.
“The Pandemic Agreement is designed to close the gaps in collaboration, cooperation and fairness,” he added. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus raised the highest level of alert on the Covid-19 pandemic in May, believing that it was now sufficiently under control.
The WHO also lifted the similar alert for mpox (long called monkeypox) in May 2023, while the UN health agency approved new vaccines against malaria, dengue and meningitis, recalled Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, Belize and Tajikistan have been declared malaria-free.
A “particularly worrying” resurgence of cholera
Concerning the resurgence of cholera, with a record number of more than 40 epidemic outbreaks around the world, he indicated that the situation is “particularly worrying”.
On the other hand, he welcomed the fact that during the last COP, the impacts of climate change on health were highlighted.
The head of the WHO described as “barbaric” the attacks by Hamas against Israel “which triggered a devastating attack on Gaza”. He added that “relief and humanitarian efforts fall far short of meeting the needs of the people of Gaza”, reiterating the WHO’s call for an immediate ceasefire.