The World Health Organization (WHO) has quantified 2023 to be a year of immense, avoidable suffering and threats to health over the barbaric attacks by Hamas on Israel on the 7th of October that left around 1300 people dead and over 200 taken hostage.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus in his end of the year message on Tuesday made this known while lamenting that war and armed hostilities, have plagued too many other locations around the world, including Sudan, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Myanmar, to name but a few.
According to him, “Reports of gender-based violence and mistreatment of hostages are deplorable. Hamas terror was followed by the unleashing of a devastating attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 20,000 people, mainly women and children and injured over 53,000.
“At the same time, hospitals and health workers have been repeatedly attacked, while relief efforts are not coming close to meeting the needs of people.
“As of 22 December, only 9 of 36 health facilities in Gaza were partially functional, with only four offering the most basic of services in the north. For this reason, we call again for an immediate cease-fire”, Ghebreyesus added.
The DG said he saw first-hand suffering of war-weary people in North-West Syria who, like communities also visited in neighbouring Türkiye, which were devastated by the terrible earthquake in February.
Ghebreyesus noted that without peace, there is no health, and without health there can be no peace, adding that insecurity, poverty, lack of access to clean water and hygiene fanned the spread of infectious diseases in many countries.
“The resurgence of cholera is especially concerning, with a record number of 40-plus outbreaks around the world. And in terms of emergency preparedness and response, gaps remain in the world’s readiness to prevent the next pandemic”.
WHO DG projected that 2024 offers a unique opportunity to address these gaps, revealed that Govts have negotiated the first-ever global agreement to protect communities, countries and the world from the threat posed by pandemics.
He said, “The Pandemic Accord is being designed to bridge the gaps in global collaboration, cooperation and equity. The Accord, plans to strengthen the International Health Regulations, represent monumental actions by governments to create a safer and healthier world.
“And as WHO closes out our 75th year as the “world’s” health organization, I extend by my sincere gratitude to health workers, partners, and WHO colleagues, on our shared journey to achieve Health for All”, he said.
Speaking on the WHO’s achievement for the year 2023, Ghebreyesus said in May, he declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern which marked turning point for the world following three years of crisis, pain and loss for people everywhere.
“Also, WHO announced the M-POX outbreak no longer represented a global health emergency. And we approved new vaccines for malaria, dengue and meningitis, diseases that threaten millions around the world, mainly the most vulnerable.
“Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Belize were declared malaria free, and a range of neglected tropical diseases were eliminated in multiple 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 as the world advances toward eliminating cervical cancer.
“The need to address the health impacts of the climate crisis were elevated to highest political levels, with governments, scientists and advocates putting health, for the first time, prominently on the COP28 agenda, and issuing a global declaration on climate and health.
“Heads of State at the United Nations General Assembly committed to advance universal health coverage, end tuberculosis and protect world from future pandemics. Each of these achievements, and many more, demonstrated the power of science, solutions and solidarity to protect and promote health”, he said.
