Although funding cuts, conflicts and climate shocks strained health systems worldwide – disrupting essential services in many countries – governments and partners still recorded remarkable progress in disease control, prevention and preparedness.
The UN health agency says the mixed picture of progress and pressure in 2025 emphasizes both what is possible through evidence-based collaboration and what is at risk if momentum and funding are not sustained.
Victories for disease control
Several countries reached historic milestones in eliminating infectious diseases.
Maldives became the first country to achieve “triple elimination” of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis Bwhile Brazil eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, making it the most populous country in the Americas to achieve this goal.
Progress against neglected tropical diseases was also recorded. Burundi, Egypt and Fiji eliminated trachoma; Guinea and Kenya eliminated sleeping sickness; and Niger became the first African country to eliminate river blindness. Since 2010, the number of people requiring treatment for a neglected tropical disease has fallen by almost a third.
Deaths from tuberculosis (TB) continued to declineparticularly in Africa and Europe, which have recorded reductions of more than 45 percent over the past decade. Still, the disease claimed an estimated 1.2 million lives by 2024, underscoring the continuing risks associated with HIV, malnutrition and other factors.
Malaria control also developed. Georgia, Suriname and Timor-Leste were certified malaria-free, while seven more African countries introduced malaria vaccines by 2025. Combined with newer tools, including improved mosquito nets, these efforts helped prevent an estimated 170 million cases and one million deaths by 2024.
A doctor examines a newborn in a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Global health cooperation
In addition to disease-specific gains, 2025 also marked important advances in global health cooperation.
Countries adopted the world’s first pandemic agreement and strengthened the International Health Regulations (IHR), laying the groundwork for faster and fairer responses to future health emergencies.
World leaders approved one historic policy statement on non-communicable diseases and mental health. New evidence-based guidance was also issued, covering areas from maternal care and meningitis to diabetes in pregnancy and child-friendly cancer medicine.
Healthier lives, uneven progress
That’s what the WHO’s World Health Statistics 2025 report found 1.4 billion more people living healthier livesdriven by reduced tobacco use, cleaner air and improved water and sanitation.
Immunization remained central to these gains. Global vaccination efforts have reduced measles deaths by 88 percent since 2000, saving nearly 59 million lives. By 2025, more countries expanded vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), bringing the world closer to eliminating cervical cancer.
Yet the challenges continue. Twenty million children missed important vaccines due to conflict, supply disruptions and misinformation. Maternal and child deaths are also not falling fast enough to achieve global goals, which underscores the need for greater investment in primary health care and safe birth programs.
Children and adults suffering from cholera receive treatment at an isolation center in a hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
Funding pressure, crisis response
Funding cuts in 2025 disrupted services including maternal care, vaccination, HIV prevention and disease surveillance, with the WHO warning that reduced funding could reverse hard-won gains.
Despite these pressures, WHO supported rapid responses to health emergencies and crises across 79 countries and territories, including Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, providing emergency medical support and helping to contain outbreaks.
It provided medicine, helped keep hospitals open, participated in vaccination campaigns and ensured that people could still access mainstream health services – “because babies still need to be born, heart attacks still need to be avoided, and diabetes still needs to be treated, even during an emergency.”
Looking ahead
Looking to 2026, the WHO points to the adoption of the first pandemic agreement and strengthened international health regulations as signs of renewed global commitment to preparedness.
It emphasizes that it remains guided by the principle established at its founding in 1948: that the highest attainable standard of health should be a right for all, not a privilege of a few.
“Together,“WHO emphasizes,”with science, solutions and solidarity, we can build a healthier, safer and more hopeful future for everyone.“
A baby is held by its mother and entertained by its grandfather at a community clinic in northern Bangladesh.
