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Ahead of World Malaria Day on 25 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a significant step forward in the fight against malaria with the prequalification of the first treatment developed specifically for newborns and young infants weighing between two and five kilograms. The prequalification designation indicates that the medicine meets international standards of quality, safety and efficacy, and will help to expand access to quality-assured treatment for one of the most underserved patient groups.

The newly prequalified treatment, artemether-lumefantrine, is the first antimalarial formulation designed specifically for the youngest malaria patients. Until now, infants with malaria have been treated with formulations intended for older children, which increase the risk of dosing errors, side effects and toxicity. WHO prequalification will enable public sector procurement, contributing to closing a long-standing treatment gap for some 30 million babies born each year in malaria-endemic areas of Africa.

"For centuries, malaria has stolen children from their parents, and health, wealth and hope from communities," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "But today, the story is changing. New vaccines, diagnostic tests, next-generation mosquito nets and effective medicines, including those adapted for the youngest, are helping to turn the tide. Ending malaria in our lifetime is no longer a dream – it is a real possibility, but only with sustained political and financial commitment. Now we can. Now we must."

On 14 April 2026, WHO also prequalified three new rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) designed to address emerging diagnostic challenges for malaria. The most common malaria RDTs for P.falciparum parasite work by detecting the protein, known as HRP2. But based on reported studies and surveys in 46 countries, some strains of the malaria parasite have lost the gene that makes this protein – so they become "invisible" to HRP2-based RDTs, leading to false-negative results. In countries in the Horn of Africa, up to 80% of cases were missed, leading to delayed treatment, severe illness, and even death.

The new tests address this issue by targeting a different parasite protein (pf-LDH) that the malaria parasite cannot easily shed. They provide a reliable, quality-assured alternative where HRP2-based tests are failing. WHO now recommends that countries switch to these alternative RDTs when more than 5% of cases are missed due to pf-hrp2 deletions. This ensures accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and protects hard-won malaria control gains – especially for the most vulnerable communities.

The announcements come as WHO and partners launch the 2026 World Malaria Day campaign, "Driven to End Malaria: Now We Can. Now We Must." The theme is a rallying cry to seize the moment – to protect lives now and fund a malaria-free future.

According to the World malaria report 2025, there were an estimated 282 million cases and 610 000 deaths in 2024 – an increase from 2023. While 47 countries have been certified malaria-free and 37 countries reported fewer than 1000 cases in 2024, progress at the global level is stalling. Gains are at risk due to multiple challenges, including drug resistance, insecticide resistance, diagnostic failure, and severe reductions in international development assistance.

Despite these challenges, substantial progress has been made, with an estimated 2.3 billion malaria infections prevented and 14 million lives saved worldwide since 2000.

Twenty-five countries are now rolling out malaria vaccines, protecting millions of children, and next-generation mosquito nets make up 84% of all new nets distributed. These advances demonstrate what is possible when all partners work together to innovate and deliver on the promises towards ending malaria for all.
 

Dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the UN agency for health that connects nations, partners and people on the front lines in 150+ locations – leading the world’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.

“Together for health. Stand with science”, the theme of World Health Day 2026 marks a year-long campaign to highlight science as the foundation for protecting health and well-being worldwide.

• The Big Catch-Up, launched during World Immunization Week 2023, has delivered over 100 million vaccine doses to an estimated 18.3 million children across 36 countries
  
• Around 12.3 million were “zero-dose children” who had not previously received any vaccines and 15 million who had never received a measles vaccine. 
  
• The initiative concluded in March 2026 and is on track to meet its target of catching up 21 million children – but agencies warn that many infants still miss out on lifesaving vaccines through routine immunization every year.

The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a historic multi-year, multi-country effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1 to 5 across 36 countries with more than 100 million doses of life-saving vaccines, helping to narrow critical immunity gaps, announced Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), WHO, and UNICEF at the start of World Immunization Week.

Of the 18.3 million children reached between 2023 and 2025, an estimated 12.3 million were “zero-dose children” who had not yet received a vaccine and 15 million had never received a measles vaccine. BCU also provided 23 million doses of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) to un- and under-vaccinated children, an essential intervention to reach polio eradication. Programme implementation concluded on 31 March 2026. Although final data is still being compiled, the global initiative is forecasted to be on track to meet its target of reaching at least 21 million un- and under-immunized children.

However, agencies warn that while catch-up vaccination is an important strategy for closing immunisation gaps, expanding the reach of routine immunization programmes remains the most effective and sustainable way to protect children and prevent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Beyond pandemic recovery, the BCU initiative focused on closing the vaccine equity gap. Millions of children every year miss the essential vaccinations they should receive before the age of one. Most of them live in fragile, conflict-affected, or underserved communities and are never caught up as they grow older.

The 36 participating BCU countries across Africa and Asia currently account for 60% of all zero-dose worldwide. Pandemic-related immunisation programme disruptions exacerbated this issue, and, in these countries, added millions more zero-dose children to those who already chronically miss out. To address this issue, the Big Catch-Up looked beyond infant immunization, for the first-time ever systematically leveraging routine immunisation systems to make deep inroads into the accumulated global cohort of older children between the ages of 1 to 5 – “older” because they should have received critical routine vaccines before the age of 1 – who remain vulnerable due to missed vaccinations.

BCU catalysed long-lasting systems to identify, screen, vaccinate and monitor coverage rates in these older children – including updates to policies on age eligibility. Countries also oriented and trained health workers to identify, screen and vaccinate missed children as part of routine care and engaged with communities and civil society to support catch-up efforts. By expanding the reach of immunization to millions of previously missed children and their communities, and investing in systemic improvements, the BCU drive has made it easier for the countries to ensure these populations and others like them continue to receive essential health and immunization services in the future.

Among the participating countries, 12 countries (Burkina Faso, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia) reported reaching more than 60% of all zero-dose children under the age of 5 who had previously missed DTP1. In Ethiopia, more than 2.5 million previously zero-dose children received DTP1. The country also delivered nearly 5 million doses of IPV and more than 4 million doses of measles vaccine, among other key vaccines, to un- and under-vaccinated children. Countries outside this group also reached large numbers of children. In Nigeria, for example, 2 million previously zero-dose children were reached with DTP1, and 3.4 million doses of IPV were administered alongside millions of doses of other vaccines.

While these 36 countries received Gavi funding and technical assistance from WHO and UNICEF through BCU, many other countries also implemented activities during this period to accelerate efforts to catch-up missed children and recover immunisation services following pandemic-related backsliding.

“As the largest ever international effort to reach missed children with life-saving vaccines, the Big Catch-Up shows what is possible when governments, partners and communities work together to protect the most vulnerable in society,” said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “Thanks to this accomplishment, not only are millions of children now protected from preventable diseases but so are their communities, for generations to come.” 

"By protecting children who missed out on vaccinations because of disruptions to health services caused by COVID-19, the Big Catch-Up has helped to undo one of the pandemic's major negative consequences," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “The success of the Big Catch-Up is a testament to health workers and national immunization programmes, which are now better equipped to find and vaccinate children missed by routine services."   

"Vaccinations save lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.  “This initiative shows what's possible when countries have the resources, tools, and political will to reach children with lifesaving vaccines. We've caught up with some of the children who missed routine vaccinations during the pandemic – but many more remain out of reach. The gains made through the Big Catch-Up must be sustained through investment in strong, reliable immunisation systems, especially at a time where measles is resurging."

Through the Big Catch-Up, for the first time ever, countries and global partners successfully reached 12.3 million “older” zero dose children between the ages of 1 to 5. However, in 2024, an estimated 14.3 million infants under the age of one globally failed to receive a single vaccine through routine immunization programmes. Despite BCU demonstrating progress is possible with leadership and targeted investment and support, lowering this annual number of infants who miss out will require building systems that consistently reach the hardest to reach communities – against a backdrop of rising birth cohorts, conflict and displacement, funding cuts, and strained health systems.

The consequences of chronic gaps in routine immunisation are plain to see. Measles outbreaks, for example, are rising in every region with around 11 million cases in 2024, and the number of countries facing large outbreaks has almost tripled since 2021. This surge is driven by persistent gaps in measles vaccination through routine immunization programmes, compounded by declining vaccine confidence in some previously high-coverage communities.

Large-scale catch-up efforts are resource intensive and should serve only as a gap-filling measure that is complementary to routine immunization. Timely vaccination according to national immunisation schedules provides optimal protection and continues to be the most sustainable way to safeguard children and communities.

WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi, along with countries and communities, are marking World Immunization Week (24–30 April 2026) with a joint campaign, "For every generation, vaccines work," calling on countries to sustain and expand vaccination coverage at every age. At the midpoint of the Immunisation Agenda 2030 (IA2030), and central to Gavi's 2026–2030 strategy (Gavi 6.0), the priority remains the same: reaching zero-dose children and advancing equity in the hardest-to-reach communities, particularly in countries grappling with conflict, instability, or fragile health systems. Maintaining that momentum will require expanding long-term domestic investments in immunization programmes and reliable commitments from partners and donors.

• Photos and broll - UNICEF
• WHO catch up immunisation
• The Big Catch-Up: An Essential Immunisation Recovery Plan for 2023 and Beyond

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organisations that fund Gavi’s work here.

Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 1.2 billion children – and prevented more than 20.6 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower‑income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X and YouTube.

UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, works to protect the rights of every child, everywhere, especially the most disadvantaged children and in the toughest places to reach. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we do whatever it takes to help children survive, thrive, and fulfil their potential.

 For more information about UNICEF and its work, please visit: www.unicef.org Follow UNICEF on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Dedicated to the health and well-being of all people and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to give everyone, everywhere, an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. We are the UN agency for health. We connect nations, partners and people on the front lines in 150+ locations – leading the world’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health issues and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. www.who.int   

The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its Results Report, highlighting measurable improvements in people’s health worldwide in 2025, despite funding cuts affecting both the organization and the broader global health sector.

Published at a pivotal moment for global health, the Results Report demonstrates that WHO’s impact was strongest in areas where its technical leadership and comparative advantage were fully leveraged.

The report finds significant progress across all three “Triple Billion” targets under WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW13) for 2019–2025.

• an estimated 567 million additional people were covered by essential health services without experiencing catastrophic health spending in 2025, compared with the baseline in 2018 – an increase of 136 million since 2024;
• an estimated 698 million additional people were better protected from health emergencies in 2025, compared with the baseline in 2018 – an increase of 61 million since 2024; and
• an estimated 1.75 billion additional people living healthier lives in 2025, compared with the baseline in 2018 – an increase of 300 million since 2024.

Despite this progress, the report cautions that important ambitions remain unmet, leaving with the world off track to meet the health-related Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Nevertheless, this final snapshot under GPW 13 provides clear evidence of the value of a strong and sustainably financed WHO, reflecting enduring collaboration between WHO and its Member States at global, regional and country levels.

“The Results Report 2025 shows that with support from WHO and partners, countries have delivered tangible benefits for millions of people,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “At the same time, these gains cannot be taken for granted. Protecting and expanding them will require sustained support and investment, so that together we can continue advancing the vision set out in WHO’s Constitution: the highest attainable standard of health as a right for all.”

The WHO Results Report is released annually ahead of the World Health Assembly to assess progress and review achievements and challenges in implementing WHO’s programme budget.

Compared with previous editions, the 2025 report features stronger evidence-based reporting and clearer prioritization across country, regional and global levels, providing a more data-driven picture of where progress has been made and where further effort is needed. The full report will be presented by the Director-General at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (18–23 May 2026).

This latest Results Report shows meaningful – but incomplete – progress across 46 outcome indicators and 121 output indicators that are specifically focused on the performance of the WHO Secretariat. These indicators are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reflecting joint accountability between WHO and its Member States.

Overall, approximately half of the output indicators were not achieved, particularly in emergency-prone and resource-constrained settings. For all three targets, financial pressures and WHO’s realignment process had several immediate consequences, such as reduced human resource capacity for delivery, limited technical support, and slowing programme implementation.

Progress towards universal health coverage was driven by expanded coverage of services for communicable diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis, prevention of bacterial diseases through improved sanitation and an expanding health workforce. However, gaps persist in areas such as diabetes management, measles surveillance and financial protection.

Progress under protection from health emergencies reflects advances in pandemic preparedness, early warning systems, prevention and response capacity. These gains were supported in part by the adopted Pandemic Agreement and the revised International Health Regulations. Areas requiring complex implementation – such as disease detection, emergency response, and polio eradication and transition – remain more challenging, reflecting constraints in country capacity, financing and operations.

Progress towards better health and well-being was driven by improvements in access to clean household energy, water, sanitation and hygiene, and reductions in air pollution, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. WHO’s global guidance, technical tools, standards and networks played a significant role in supporting these achievements.

The Results Report highlights several areas where WHO’s technical leadership and convening role delivered clear impact:

• antimicrobial resistance: expanded surveillance and evidence generation through the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS), for policy-decision making;
• mental health: strengthened emergency mental health and psychosocial support systems, increasing country coverage from 28% to 48%;
• HPV vaccination: expanded vaccine coverage with simplified single-dose schedules, raising global coverage from 17% in 2019 to 31% in 2024;
• pandemic preparedness: adoption of the Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), to ensure that the world is better prepared for future pandemics;
• humanitarian response: responded to 66 emergencies across 88 countries in 2025; delivering for instance 33 million medical consultations through health partners in Gaza.
• environmental health: updated global air pollution roadmap to cut deaths attributed to poor air quality by 50% by 2040; and
• One Health: strengthened high-level engagement and multisectoral dialogue and collaboration through the Quadripartite partnership, to better protect people, animals and the planet from future health crises.

The report notes that a large share of WHO’s funding remains highly earmarked for specific thematic areas, which continues to limit strategic allocation in line with organizational priorities.

As the global financial landscape becomes more constrained, sustained and flexible financing will be essential to safeguard health gains, reduce persistent inequities, and enable WHO to deliver on its mandate – particularly in countries and communities most in need – for a healthier, safer, and fairer world for all.

Established under GPW 13, WHO’s Triple Billion targets aimed to ensure that, by the end of 2025 compared with 2018 levels, one billion more people benefit from universal health coverage; one billion more people are better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoy better health and well-being.

In a landmark achievement for Caribbean public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates The Bahamas for becoming the latest Caribbean nation to be certified as having eliminated the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

“I congratulate The Bahamas on this outstanding achievement, which solidifies years of political commitment, and the dedication of health workers,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “By ensuring that children are born free of HIV, we are securing a healthier, brighter future for the next generation.”

“This achievement reflects sustained political commitment and strong national leadership, alongside the dedication and compassion of the health workforce,” said Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO Regional Director for the Americas. “As we look ahead, this milestone is not only a moment of national pride but also an opportunity to build on this success, advancing efforts to end HIV and other communicable diseases as public health threats across the Caribbean and the Americas.”

The Bahamas achieved this milestone by pioneering a comprehensive and inclusive health-care model. Key to this success has been the provision of universal antenatal care to all pregnant women, regardless of nationality or legal status, across both public and private facilities. This approach is supported by a strong, integrated laboratory network and a rigorous testing protocol that screens women at their first antenatal appointment and again in the third trimester.

Elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) interventions in The Bahamas are fully integrated into antenatal care standards and norms and implemented under the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programme. MCH coordinates with the National Infectious Disease Programme, which oversees the prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). This includes the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, also offered to pregnant women. To ensure continuity of care, the health system maintains adequate monitoring for HIV-positive mothers and exposed infants, provides multi-month dispensing of antiretroviral medicines, and offers STI treatment and family planning services free of charge.

“For years, The Bahamas have been working very hard to address the situation of HIV/AIDS,” said Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness of The Bahamas. “A lot of people have been involved in us achieving this great milestone – our nurses in our public health system, our nurses and doctors in our tertiary health-care system and, by extension, all of the clinics spread throughout our archipelago.”

From Cuba, the first country in the world to be certified, and Brazil – certified last year, The Bahamas now joins a prestigious group of 12 countries and territories in the Region of the Americas at the forefront of the EMTCT movement. The Bahamas will continue efforts to sustain these standards through integrated primary care and continuous surveillance.

To receive WHO certification, countries must prove they have sustained the following:

• reducing the mother-to-child transmission rate of HIV to less than 2%;
• achieving fewer than 5 new pediatric HIV infections per 1000 live births; and
• maintaining 95% or higher coverage for antenatal care, HIV testing, and treatment for pregnant women.

“Latin America and the Caribbean has long been a beacon of progress in this global effort. From Cuba – the first country in the world to be certified – to Brazil’s certification last year, and now to The Bahamas, the region continues to lead with ambition and determination. Today, more than half of all countries and territories that have achieved elimination are from this region. This is a legacy of leadership that inspires the world,” said Anurita Bains, Global Associate Director for HIV/AIDS at UNICEF.

“The Bahamas are showing that eliminating mother-to-child transmission HIV and other sexually transmitted infections is possible,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director. “This achievement reflects political will for steady investment in primary health care and the work of health teams and people living with and most affected by HIV. When women can test early in pregnancy, start treatment quickly, and stay in care, every child has a better chance of being born free of HIV and other STIs.”

The Bahamas’ success is part of the broader EMTCT Plus Initiative, which aims to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and congenital Chagas disease. Implemented in collaboration with UNICEF and UNAIDS, the initiative is embedded within PAHO’s Elimination Initiative, a regional effort to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases and related conditions in the Americas by 2030.

An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns, according to new estimates released today. Most of these deaths are preventable with proven, low-cost interventions and access to quality health care.

According to the report – Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – under-five deaths globally have fallen by more than half since 2000. However, since 2015, the pace of reduction in child mortality has slowed by more than 60 per cent.

This year’s report provides the clearest and most detailed picture yet of how many children, adolescents, and youth are dying, where they are dying, and – for the first time – fully integrates estimates on the causes of death.*

For the first time, the report estimates deaths directly caused by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), finding that more than 100 000 children aged 1-59 months – or 5 per cent – died from it in 2024. The toll is far greater when indirect effects are considered, as malnutrition weakens children’s immunity and increases their risk of dying from common childhood diseases.

Mortality data also frequently fail to capture SAM as an underlying cause of death, suggesting the burden is likely substantially underestimated. Some of the countries with the highest numbers of direct deaths include Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan.

Newborn deaths account for nearly half of all under-five deaths, reflecting slower progress in preventing deaths around the time of birth. Leading causes among newborns were complications from preterm birth (36 per cent) and complications during labour and delivery (21 per cent). Infections, including neonatal sepsis and congenital anomalies, were also important causes.

Beyond the first month, infectious diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia were major killers. Malaria remained the single largest killer in this age group (17 per cent) – with most deaths occurring in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa. After steep declines between 2000 and 2015, progress towards reducing malaria mortality slowed in recent years. Deaths remain concentrated in a handful of endemic countries – such as Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Nigeria – where conflict, climate shocks, invasive mosquitos, drug resistance, and other biological threats continue to affect access to prevention and treatment.

Child deaths remain heavily concentrated in a small number of regions. In 2024, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 58 per cent of all under-five deaths. In the region, the leading infectious diseases were responsible for 54 per cent of all under-five deaths. In Europe and Northern America this proportion drops to 9 per cent and in Australia and New Zealand, drops further to 6 per cent. These stark disparities reflect unequal access to proven, life-saving interventions.

In Southern Asia, which accounted for 25 per cent of all under-five deaths, mortality was driven largely by complications in the first month of life – including preterm delivery, birth asphyxia/ trauma, congenital anomalies, and neonatal infections. These largely preventable conditions underscore the urgent need for investing in quality antenatal care, skilled health-care personnel at birth, care of small and sick newborns, and essential newborn services.

Fragile and conflict-affected countries continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden. Children born in these settings are nearly three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those elsewhere.

The report also finds that an estimated 2.1 million children, adolescents and youth aged 5–24 died in 2024. Infectious diseases and injuries remain leading causes among younger children, while risks shift in adolescence: self-harm is the leading cause of death among girls aged 15–19, and road traffic injuries among boys.

Shifts in the global development financing landscape are placing critical maternal, newborn, and child health programmes under growing pressure. Surveys, health information systems, and the core functions that underpin effective care all need sustained funding not only to protect the progress made, but to accelerate it.

Evidence shows that investments in child health remain among the most cost-effective development measures. Proven, low-cost interventions – such as vaccines, treatment for severe acute malnutrition, and skilled care at birth – deliver some of the highest returns in global health, improving productivity, strengthening economies and reducing future public spending. Every dollar invested in child survival can generate up to twenty dollars in social and economic benefits.

To accelerate progress and save lives, governments, donors, and partners must:

1. make child survival a political and financing priority, with political commitment from high-burden countries to mobilize domestic resources, and improve access to evidence-based, quality services that are affordable for all;
2. focus on those at highest risk, especially mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, and in conflict and fragile settings;
3. strengthen accountability for existing commitments to reduce maternal, newborn, and child deaths, including transparent data collection, tracking, and reporting; and
4. invest in primary health care systems to prevent, diagnose and treat the leading causes of death in children, including through community health workers and skilled care at birth.
    

“No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent. But we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing – and at a time where we’re seeing further global budget cuts,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “History has shown what is possible when the world commits to protecting its children. With sustained investment and political will, we can continue to build on those achievements for future generations.”

“The world has made remarkable progress in saving children’s lives, but many still die from preventable causes,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Children living amid conflict and crisis are nearly three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday. We must protect essential health and nutrition services and reach the most vulnerable families so every child has the chance not only to survive, but to thrive.”

"These findings are a collective call to speed up implementation of the proven, scalable solutions we know are within reach," said Monique Vledder, World Bank Group Director, Health. "The World Bank Group health target of reaching 1.5 billion people is our concrete commitment to accelerating access to quality primary health services for more children and families."

“The latest estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation are a stark reminder that progress on child survival is slowing and too many countries are off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Mr. Li Junhua. “We know how to prevent these deaths. What is needed now is renewed political commitment, sustained investment in primary health care, and stronger data systems to ensure no child is left behind.”

“These estimates demonstrate that many deaths among children under five – from causes such as preterm birth, lower respiratory infections, to injuries – are avoidable with proven, cost‑effective interventions,” says Li Liu, PhD, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-PI of CA-CODE. “The science is clear: targeted investments in primary health care, maternal and newborn health services, routine immunization, nutrition programmes, and quality and timely data systems can save millions of lives.”
 

* This is made possible by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) unifying global child mortality and cause-of-death data in its flagship report, through the full integration of estimates from the Child and Adolescent Causes of Death Estimation (CA CODE) group – a research consortium led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Child deaths continue to decline globally, though updated data and improved methods mean this round’s estimates are slightly higher than reported the previous year. UN IGME estimates are not directly comparable across rounds, as each update incorporates new survey, census, and civil registration data, revised population and birth figures, and changes in country coverage.

About UN IGME
The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation or UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance the capacity of countries to produce timely and properly evaluated estimates of child mortality. UN IGME is led by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. For more information: http://www.childmortality.org/

About Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health works to keep millions safe from illness and injury by pioneering new research, deploying knowledge in the field, and educating tomorrow’s public health leaders. The Bloomberg School was founded as the first independent school of public health in 1916 as part of Johns Hopkins University–the United States’ first research university. Today, Bloomberg School researchers work in settings from labs to communities to prevent disease, improve population health, and shape health policy in the U.S. and countries around the world.

More than ten days into the latest escalation of conflict in the Middle East, health systems across the Region are coming under strain as injuries and displacement rise, attacks on health care continue, and public health risks increase.

National health authorities in Iran report more than 1300 deaths and 9000 injuries, and in Lebanon report at least 570 deaths and more than 1400 injuries. In Israel, authorities report 15 deaths and 2142 injuries.

At the same time, the conflict is affecting the very services meant to save lives. In Iran, WHO has verified 18 attacks on health care since 28 February, resulting in 8 deaths among health workers. Over the same period in Lebanon, 25 attacks on health care have resulted in 16 deaths and 29 injuries. These attacks not only cost lives but deprive communities of care when they need it most. Health workers, patients and health facilities must always be protected under international humanitarian law.

Beyond the immediate impact, the conflict is creating wider public health risks. Current estimates indicate more than 100 000 people in Iran have relocated to other areas of the country due to insecurity, and up to 700 000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon, with many in crowded collective shelters under deteriorating public health conditions, with limited access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. These conditions increase the risk of respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and other communicable illnesses, especially for the most vulnerable populations, such as women and children.

Environmental hazards are also a raising concern. In Iran, petroleum fires and smoke from damaged infrastructure exposed nearby communities to toxic pollutants that potentially cause breathing problems, eye and skin irritation, and contaminated water and food sources.

Access to health services is becoming increasingly constrained across several countries. In Lebanon, 49 primary health care centres and five hospitals have shut following evacuation orders issued by Israel’s military, reducing the availability of essential services as medical needs rise.

In the occupied Palestinian territory, increased movement restrictions and checkpoint closures are delaying ambulance and mobile clinics’ access across several governorates in the West Bank. In Gaza, medical evacuations remain suspended since 28 February, while hospitals continue to operate under strain amid ongoing shortages of medicines, medical supplies and fuel, which is being rationed to prioritize essential health services such as emergency and trauma care, maternal and neonatal services, and management of communicable diseases.

Temporary airspace restrictions have disrupted the movement of medical supplies from WHO’s global logistics hub in Dubai. More than 50 emergency supply requests, intended to benefit over 1.5 million people across 25 countries, are affected, resulting in significant backlogs. Current priority shipments include supplies planned for Al Arish, Egypt, to support the Gaza response, as well as Lebanon and Afghanistan. The first shipment, containing cholera response supplies for Mozambique, is expected to depart from the hub in the coming week.

The escalation comes at a time when humanitarian needs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region were already among the highest in the world. Across the Region, 115 million people require humanitarian assistance – almost half of all people in need globally – while humanitarian health emergency appeals remain 70% underfunded.

Without protection for health care, sustained humanitarian access and stronger financial and operational support for the humanitarian health response, the strain on vulnerable populations and already fragile health systems will continue to grow.

WHO calls on all parties to protect civilians and health care, ensure unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access, and pursue de-escalation of the conflict so communities can begin to recover and move towards peace.

As Ukraine enters the fifth year of full-scale war, its people have endured the highest number of attacks on their health care in 2025 – increasing by nearly 20% compared to 2024.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war on 24 February 2022, WHO has documented at least 2881 attacks on health care in Ukraine, affecting health workers, facilities, ambulances, and medical warehouses.

Health services are under intense pressure in two fronts: direct attacks on health care, and the cascading effects of strikes on civilian infrastructure, including thermal power plants that underpin the country's power grid. These have left deep gaps in people’s health. According to a WHO assessment conducted in December 2025, 59% of people in frontline areas reported their health as poor or very poor, compared to 47% in non-frontline areas.

"After four years of war, health needs are increasing, but many people are unable to get the care they need, in part because hospitals and clinics are routinely attacked," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "WHO is working alongside Ukraine's dedicated health workers to keep hospitals supplied with the means to stay warm, and the medicines people rely on the most. Ultimately, the best medicine is peace.”

In 2025, WHO’s support reached 1.9 million people across Ukraine through service delivery, medical supplies, referrals and capacity-building, with a strong focus on frontline and hard-to-reach locations.

"Four years of war has created a serious health crisis in Ukraine," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "Mental health needs are staggering: 72% of people surveyed experienced anxiety or depression in the past year, yet only one in five sought help. Cardiovascular disease is surging, with one in four Ukrainians experiencing dangerously high blood pressure. And 8 out of 10 people report they can’t access the medicines they need. This is not abstract – it's a heart patient who can't find blood pressure medication, an amputee waiting months for a prosthetic, a teenager too afraid to leave the house. Ukraine's health system needs our sustained support.”

In a year marked by hope for peace talks, the reality on the ground told a different story. Attacks on health care intensified, reaching a peak in the third quarter of 2025, when 184 attacks claimed the lives of 12 people and injured 110 health workers and patients.

At the same time, attacks on medical warehouses tripled in 2025 compared with the previous year, disrupting logistics and supply chains that are critical to delivering care across the country. Over the past four years, 233 health workers and patients have been killed and 930 injured in attacks on health care. Such attacks constitute violations of international humanitarian law.

This winter has been the harshest since the war began, with multiple strikes on energy infrastructure leaving millions without heating, electricity, and water. Many of Ukraine's combined heat and power plants have been damaged or destroyed. In Kyiv alone, a January 2026 attack left nearly 6000 buildings without heat in subzero conditions, prompting an estimated 600 000 residents to flee the capital.

"What we are witnessing in Ukraine is a devastating cycle. A heating station is struck and thousands of homes lose heat within hours. At – 20°C, water in the pipes freezes, bursts them, floods buildings with ice. Repairs are made, then the next attack starts it all over again. Behind every one of these system breakdowns are families, elderly residents, and health-care workers who must keep saving lives while their own homes are without heat, water, or electricity. The burnout after four years of war is immense – and the demand for health care has never been higher," said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative to Ukraine.

The impact does not end at the hospital door. New mothers discharged after giving birth, patients recovering from injuries or heart attacks, and those awaiting or recovering from critical cancer surgeries return home to apartments without heating, electricity, or running water. Care that begins in a functioning hospital is undermined when patients recover in freezing, dark homes, turning medical progress into a daily struggle for survival.

The rise in war-related trauma injuries has driven a growing demand for surgery, blood products, infection prevention and control, prevention of antimicrobial resistance, mental health services, and rehabilitation.

Access to rehabilitation remains severely limited. Only 4% of hospitals providing inpatient rehabilitation and only 3% of facilities offering assistive technologies such as prosthetics and corrective devices.

Access to medicines is among the most persistent barriers to health in Ukraine, with 4 out of 5 people reporting difficulties, primarily due to high prices (71%). In frontline regions, closed pharmacies, security risks, and financial constraints make the situation even more acute.

In 2025, WHO worked to reach communities through multiple mechanisms, by prioritizing the most vulnerable people in hard-to-reach areas. The work spanned the full continuum of health:

• Crisis response: delivered trauma care and medical supplies to 954 facilities, supported over 1200 medical evacuations, and run outreach in 131 hard-to-reach locations;
• Recovery: sustained primary health care, noncommunicable disease treatment and mental health services for displaced and conflict-affected populations; and
• Rehabilitation: rebuilt damaged facilities, installing modular clinics, and training over 2500 health workers to restore and strengthen a battered health system.

To help maintain essential health services, WHO has provided 284 generators to health facilities across 23 oblasts in Ukraine. For 2026, WHO is appealing to raise US$ 42 million in funding to sustain its work in Ukraine and to protect access to care for 700 000 people.