The Global Health Report

The World Health Organization (WHO) Results Report 2024 shows that the world is off track to meet the health-related SDGs, amid a darkening geopolitical outlook for health spending.

The report comes in the wake of an announcement earlier this year by US President Donald Trump that the WHO’s biggest contributor would withdraw its support.

“In a world of multiple overlapping challenges and constrained resources for global health, these results demonstrate why the world needs a strong and sustainably financed WHO,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Tiple billion

The organisation added that for its “triple billion” target, which aligns with the health SDGs, two of the three are off track:

Off track: 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage – an estimated 431 million more people, close to half of the goal, are estimated to be covered with essential health services without catastrophic health spending.

Off track: 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies – an estimated 637 million more people are better protected through stronger preparedness, surveillance, workforce capacity, and equitable access to tools and services, supported by reforms such as the amendments to the International Health Regulations. Yet financial constraints threaten pandemic response efforts.

On track: 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being – the report shows that 1.4 billion more people are living with better health and well-being, surpassing the initial goal.

Reaching the goals faces growing challenges, due to pauses in foreign aid and reductions of health budgets, especially in communities with the greatest health needs, it said.

Financial constraints also threaten pandemic response efforts, the organisation added.

Uganda has started the world’s biggest malaria vaccination campaign as the East African country battles one of the highest global incidences of the disease.

On April 2, the country’s Ministry of Health announced that it had launched a vaccination campaign in the northerly Apac District, initially targeting 1.1 million children aged under two years old, with plans to expand nationwide.

“I urge all parents and caregivers to ensure that children aged six to 18 months receive the malaria vaccine at the nearest health facility,” said Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Health, in a press statement.

The first country to integrate malaria vaccination into its routine immunisation programme was Cameroon at the start of 2024, and Uganda is the 19th country in Africa to introduce it into its vaccine schedule.

Uganda, where almost three quarters of the population lives in areas with significant risk of malaria, will administer the R21/Matrix-M vaccine, produced by the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India.

R21 received WHO recommendation in 2023, making it the second malaria jab available to countries after the organization cleared GlaxoSmithKline’s RTS,S jab in 2021.

Both vaccines target children as more than three quarters of malaria deaths occur in under-fives.

“This vaccine is a game-changer, and together we must ensure that every child receives it,” said Dr Kasonde Mwinga, WHO Representative to Uganda.

“By integrating the malaria vaccine into routine immunization, Uganda is taking a bold step to protect its children, save lives and secure a healthier future.”

African countries are at risk of missing out on flu jabs in the case of a pandemic, according to the latest study from the WHO.

The research paper, published last month in Vaccine, says that there are significant gaps in the distribution of flu jabs, especially in Africa.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, African countries were left without enough vaccines as the rich world hoarded vital supplies.

This vaccine inequity led to thousands of unnecessary deaths and prompted the African Union to establish the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing in 2021 to stimulate vaccine making on the continent.

However, the initiative is a work in progress and there are still very few vaccine manufacturers in Africa.

It also received significant funding from the US, much of which has now been rescinded after the election of protectionist President Donald Trump last year.

“While influenza vaccine production capacity has been sustained since 2019, significant gaps persist in its distribution, especially in low and lower-middle income countries, and most notably in the African region,” the paper says.

“This imbalance in production could result in unequal access to vaccines in the event of a pandemic.”

The World Health Organization has confirmed that the outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo should still be considered an international emergency, as efforts to fight the disease have been undermined by the suspension of US aid.

The organisation’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee said that the epidemiological situation remained volatile in the region, according to a WHO statement released on Monday (17 March).

It said the situation has been exacerbated by the pause in US support for overseas aid, as the US has so far funded a third of the cost of fighting mpox.

The funding withdrawal comes amid an already tense situaton, with health teams hampered by the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC, and concurrent disease outbreaks in the region, such as an outbreak of Sudan virus in neighbouring Uganda.

The security situation in DRC, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has seized control of a number of key cities in the mineral-rich east of the country, has forced health teams to relocate their operatons, it added.