On 5 May 2023, the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared COVID-19 over as a global health emergency. He emphasized that this announcement did not mean that COVID-19 was no longer a global health threat, rather that it was time for countries to transition from emergency mode to managing COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases.

In his announcement, the Director-General recognized the innovation of vaccine researchers and developers, the tough decisions governments had to make, and the incredible skill and selfless dedication of health and care workers. As of November 2023, 72% of people worldwide had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 13.6 billion doses administered around the world, preventing severe illness and hospitalizations for millions of people.

We began to see promising signs of recovery in levels of childhood immunization after the backsliding that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the year, global partners announced “The Big Catch-up”: a coordinated effort to reverse the declines in childhood vaccination, strengthening health systems and working towards a future where no child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease.

Another important milestone during the year was WHO’s recommendation of a new vaccine for malaria prevention, providing hope to bolster malaria prevention and save hundreds of thousands of young lives in the African Region. There are now two life-saving vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing malaria in children.

In addition, a new dengue vaccine was recommended for introduction in settings with high disease burden. The new vaccine offers hope against the mosquito-transmitted infection, of which half of the world's population is estimated to be at risk.

Meanwhile, there was promising news in the fight against meningitis, as WHO prequalified a novel meningococcal conjugate vaccine and issued a policy for its use in the countries of the African meningitis belt, which are affected by seasonal epidemics. Men5CV has the potential to drastically change the fight against meningitis, as it is expected to be more affordable and accessible to countries in the meningitis belt than other available vaccines.

Poor and marginalized women are still disproportionately affected by cervical cancer, but there is cause for optimism with strong progress on HPV vaccination. Particularly encouraging is the progress on coverage of the single-dose recommendation endorsed by WHO. A further 30 countries have introduced the vaccine, including some with high levels of cervical cancer such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria. This brings the worldwide total to 140 countries, well on the way to reaching the 2030 goal of ensuring widespread availability of HPV vaccines for all girls worldwide.

In a historic first, the organizers of COP28 hosted a dedicated health day in response to the climate-related health crisis affecting at least 3.5 billion people – nearly half of the global population. Extreme heat, weather events and air pollution caused millions of deaths in 2023, putting enormous pressure on health systems and workforce.

A new COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health was signed by over 130 countries at the UN Climate Conference. The Declaration advocates for a rapid increase in political and financial commitments, and concrete action to protect people from the devastating health impacts of the climate crisis.

In the lead-up to COP28, WHO, together with global health partners, mobilized the signatures of over 40 million health professionals calling for bold health and climate action at the Conference. WHO also released an Operational framework for building climate-resilient and low carbon health systems, as a blueprint for a future-proof and sustainable health sector in an ever-changing climate.

During the year, WHO announced that 5.6 billion people – 71% of the world’s population – are now protected with at least one WHO best practice policy to help save lives from tobacco. This is five times more than in 2007. In the 15 years since WHO’s MPOWER tobacco control measures were introduced globally, smoking rates have fallen and almost 40% of countries now have smoke-free indoor public places.

This year Mauritius became the first country in Africa, and the Netherlands the first in Europe, to put in place the full package of WHO tobacco control policies at the highest possible level, joining only two other countries, Brazil and Türkiye, which have achieved the same goal.

In another first, WHO released its first-ever report on the devastating global impact of high blood pressure: 1 in 3 adults are affected by the condition. The report indicated that approximately 4 out of every 5 people with hypertension are not adequately treated, but if countries can scale up coverage, 76 million deaths could be averted between 2023 and 2050. 

This year the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Switzerland were the first three countries to be listed as WHO-Listed Authorities, offering global recognition that the regulatory authorities meet WHO and other internationally-recognized regulatory standards and practices.

The WHO Essential Medicines List was updated in 2023 with new inclusions for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and cancer, among others. The updated list will facilitate greater access to innovative medicines and treatments that could have a large public health impact globally, without jeopardizing the health budgets of low- and middle-income countries.

Meanwhile the Essential Diagnostics List was updated with 8 new entries, including diagnostics for the self-care of diabetes. Glucose personal monitors were among the additions, along with hepatitis E tests.

There was also promising progress in supporting Member States to manage substandard and contaminated medicines. The publication of a WHO testing method for the contaminant seen in syrup medicines will help combat substandard health products which have led to at least 300 deaths  in children worldwide.