Read in full: https://www.who.int/news/item/23-04-2026-who-reports-measurable-health-i...
Extracts below and a comment from me:
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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.
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COMMENT (NPW): These are remarkable gains. It would be interesting to understand more how these parameters are monitored and evaluated.
The HIFA global consultation indicates that greater gains can be achieved in 2027 if WHO explicitly commits to the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information and convenes stakeholders to develo a global strategy for its implementation.
Read more about our work in official relations with WHO here: https://www.hifa.org/projects/hifa-official-relations-who
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org