| No images? Click here  Monday 30 December 2024 NOTE TO JOURNALISTS End of year statement by WHO Director-General
Please find video file for download here: During Christmas week, I was in Yemen on a United Nations mission to negotiate with the country’s de facto authorities for the release of unjustly detained humanitarians working for the UN and partner organizations. The talks with the Houthis proceeded positively and we hope will bear fruit. While waiting to board our flight in Sana’a, the airport came under aerial bombardment by Israel. The attack inflicted needless death, injury, panic, chaos and damage, and was another reminder of the growing threat faced by civilians, humanitarians and health workers in war zones around the world. This must stop. With a New Year upon us, our leaders must bring desperately needed peace to the world, and health and safety to all. Peace and health are linked. From Gaza to Sudan, Yemen to Ukraine, and Haiti and beyond - peace is, and will always be, the best medicine for the health and well-being of all people, everywhere. For the World Health Organization, Health for All is our guiding light. We pursue this mission often by working in dangerous places. We do this to protect and promote people’s health. We go the extra mile. Some achievements of the past year include: Eliminating malaria and other neglected diseases in numerous countries; 17 African countries using a new malaria vaccine; Making a new vaccine against dengue; Celebrating 154 million lives saved thanks to the Expanded Programme of Immunization founded 50 years ago; Making the world safer from outbreaks and pandemics by strengthening the International Health Regulations; Certifying the first mpox vaccines and tests; Reducing tobacco use globally; And opening the game-changing WHO Academy in Lyon with French President Macron. But bolstering global health security to protect against future outbreaks will require more work in 2025. These actions, and more, will help make our families, communities and whole world healthier and safer. To succeed in this vital quest, we must invest in essential measures to promote and protect health. We will continue working to advance health for all, including the health of children, and, especially, mothers, who will be the focus of World Health Day 2025 on the 7th of April, which also marks WHO’s 77th birthday. Let us not miss the opportunity the coming New Year offers us. Please let’s turn the page on conflict, chart a new path to achieve lasting peace, and secure a healthy and prosperous future for all.
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