LIVE: Press Conference on Global Health Issues with Dr Tedros

Why It Matters

The update reveals that stalled child‑mortality declines, evolving vaccine guidance, and conflict‑driven health crises demand immediate, coordinated investment to safeguard vulnerable populations and preserve hard‑won global health gains.

Key Takeaways

• Child mortality halved since 2000, but progress slowed after 2015.
• Immunization coverage rose to 85%, saving 150 million lives worldwide.
• SAGE advises typhoid booster, routine COVID‑19 shots, fewer oral polio doses.
• WHO launches rapid TB tests and pooling, cutting costs by 50%.
• Middle‑East conflict strains health systems; WHO releases $2 million emergency fund.

Summary

The WHO press conference, led by Director‑General Dr Tedros, unveiled a new joint child‑mortality report, reviewed recent SAGE vaccine recommendations, announced innovative TB diagnostic tools, and addressed the health fallout from the Middle‑East conflict. Dr Tedros highlighted that under‑five deaths have fallen from over 10 million in 2000 to 4.9 million in 2024, yet the rate of decline has stalled since 2015, especially in sub‑Saharan Africa where 2.8 million children died this year. Immunisation coverage now stands at 85%, a legacy of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation that has averted roughly 150 million deaths. Key data points included the SAGE panel’s endorsement of a typhoid booster at age five, routine COVID‑19 vaccination for high‑risk groups, and a reduction of oral polio vaccine doses from three to two for countries using inactivated polio vaccine. WHO also released new guidelines for point‑of‑care TB testing and a sample‑pooling strategy that can slash testing costs by half, aiming to close the diagnostic gap that leaves millions untreated. The conflict in Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq and Syria has displaced millions, damaged facilities and resulted in dozens of attacks on health care, prompting WHO to activate a $2 million contingency fund and explore alternative supply routes. Illustrative examples underscored progress and challenges: Salion’s national emergency screened nearly one million children for malnutrition and cut unvaccinated children from 15,000 to 9,000; North Macedonia reduced neonatal mortality by 87% since 2015 through emergency obstetric care improvements. Dr Tedros repeatedly stressed that “the best medicine is peace,” while WHO’s emergency fund aims to sustain life‑saving services amid ongoing hostilities. The briefing signals that sustaining and accelerating child‑survival gains will require renewed political commitment, targeted financing for primary health care, and rapid scale‑up of proven interventions such as vaccines and TB diagnostics. Donors and governments are urged to treat child survival as a fiscal priority, reinforce immunisation programs, and bolster health‑system resilience in conflict‑affected regions to prevent backsliding on decades of global health progress.