2023 marked by achievements and ‘avoidable suffering’: WHO chief

Reflecting on 2023, which also marked the UN agency’s 75th anniversary, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted key achievements and set out objectives for the coming year. New vaccines Dr. Tedros also pointed to other achievements, such as the end of the mpox outbreak as a global health emergency and the approval of new vaccines for dengue, meningitis and malaria which threaten millions worldwide, mainly the most vulnerable. Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Belize achieved malaria-free status, and progress was made in eliminating some tropical diseases in various 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, advancing our goal to eliminate cervical cancer,” he said. Climate impacts 2023 also saw increased attention to the health impacts of the climate crisis, he added. Health issues featured...