## Global Health Gains Amidst Challenges in 2025

Even as funding cuts, conflict and climate shocks strained health systems worldwide – disrupting essential services in many countries – governments and partners still recorded notable gains in disease control, prevention and preparedness.

The UN health agency says the mixed picture of progress and pressure in 2025 underscores both what is possible through evidence-based cooperation and what is at risk if momentum and financing are not sustained.

## victories for disease control

Several countries reached historic milestones in eliminating infectious diseases.

Maldives became the first country to achieve “triple elimination” of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, while Brazil eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, making it the most populous country in the Americas to reach that goal.

Progress was also recorded against neglected tropical diseases. Burundi, Egypt and Fiji eliminated trachoma; Guinea and Kenya eliminated sleeping sickness; and Niger became the first African country to eliminate river blindness. Since 2010, the number of people needing treatment for a neglected tropical disease has fallen by nearly one-third.Deaths from tuberculosis (TB) continued to decline, particularly in Africa and Europe, which recorded reductions of more than 45 per cent over the past decade. Still, the disease claimed an estimated 1.2 million lives in 2024, underscoring persistent risks linked to HIV, undernutrition and other factors.Malaria control also advanced. Georgia, Suriname and Timor-Leste were certified malaria-free, while seven additional African countries introduced malaria vaccines in 2025. Combined with newer tools, including improved mosquito nets, these efforts helped prevent an estimated 170 million cases and one million deaths in 2024.

Sudan’s Cholera Crisis: A growing Threat to Children

Children and adults suffering from cholera receive treatment at an isolation centre in a hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.

Funding pressures, crisis response

Funding cuts in 2025 disrupted services – things like maternal care, vaccinations, HIV prevention, and disease surveillance – and the WHO warns that less money could undo progress we’ve already made.

Despite these pressures, WHO supported rapid responses to health emergencies and crises across 79 countries and territories, including Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine. They provided emergency medical support and helped contain outbreaks.

It delivered medicines,