Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, happy New Year, and welcome to our first global media briefing for 2025.
As you know, for me 2024 ended with a narrow escape in Yemen, when Israel attacked the airport in Sana’a while I was there, waiting for my flight home.
I am still suffering from tinnitus in my left ear, which my doctor has told me may last for months, but I hope it will go away soon.
I was fortunate, but the ringing in my ear is a constant reminder of the threat that so many people live with every day in conflicts around the world, including many of my WHO colleagues, UN colleagues and humanitarians at large.
Yesterday’s announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal is just about the best news we could have hoped for to start the new year.
We welcome this news with great relief, but also with sorrow that it has come too late for those who have died in the conflict, and with caution given that we have had false dawns before, and the deal has not yet been confirmed.
Although the agreement would only come into effect on Sunday, if both sides are committed to a ceasefire, it should start immediately.
We urge Israel’s cabinet to approve the deal, and all sides to honour and implement it.
We sincerely hope that this agreement marks the end of the darkest chapter in the history of the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
WHO remains committed to addressing the acute health needs of the people of Gaza now and after the deal takes effect, and to support the rebuilding of Gaza’s health system.
This will be a massive undertaking. Less than half of Gaza’s hospitals are functional.
But as I have said since the conflict began, the best medicine is peace. So let the healing begin – not just for Gaza, but for Israel as well. Peace is in everyone’s best interest.
We can only hope that this agreement will not be the only one this year, and that we will also see an end to wars and insecurity in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, DRC, Myanmar and elsewhere.
In Sudan, almost two years of civil war and catastrophic displacement have left 70% of health facilities non-functional.
And in Ukraine, more than 2000 attacks on health care over almost three years of war have caused significant damage, and eroded hope.
In both countries, WHO is doing what we can to support the health system to meet enormous needs.
And conflicts are not the only emergencies to which WHO is responding.
Last year we responded to 51 emergencies in 89 countries: conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters, and more.
In 2025, WHO estimates that more than 300 million people will need urgent humanitarian assistance.
Today, WHO launched its annual Health Emergency Appeal, with an ask of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to support our lifesaving work for the emergencies we know about, and to react swiftly to new crises.
We thank the many donors who have supported WHO’s work so generously in the past.
Once again, the world’s most vulnerable people are depending on us – and depending on you – for health, and hope.
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Last Friday, WHO received reports of suspected cases of Marburg virus disease in the United Republic of Tanzania.
So far, nine cases have been reported, including eight deaths, in two districts of the northwestern region of Kagera.
The region is home to animals that are known to be reservoirs for the virus, including fruit bats, and there was an outbreak of Marburg in the same area in March 2023.
National rapid response teams have been deployed, a mobile laboratory is in the Kagera region, and treatment units have reportedly been established.
WHO is supporting the government, and we have offered to provide any further support needed.
We encourage the government to send the samples it has collected to international reference laboratories, and to collect additional samples, in accordance with normal procedure.
WHO rates the risk as high at the national and regional levels, and low at the global level.
We have issued advice to prevent further transmission of Marburg, to provide care for those infected, and to control the outbreak.
We recommend that surveillance should be strengthened at relevant points of entry and in border regions in the United Republic of Tanzania, and that neighbouring countries enhance their readiness for detecting, isolating and treating cases.
At this time, WHO advises against restrictions on travel and trade.
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Now to the global spread of H5 avian influenza.
Last year, 66 cases of H5 were reported from the United States, plus 10 from Cambodia, 2 from Viet Nam and one each from Australia, Canada and China.
This is the highest number of reported human cases since 2015.
So far this year, 2 cases including 1 death have been reported in the United States, and 1 death in Cambodia.
Almost all these cases are associated with infected dairy cattle or poultry.
H5N1 is of particular concern because since the first human cases were reported in 2003, it has killed almost half of those it has struck.
Fortunately, H5N1 has not yet developed the ability to transmit easily between humans. But that could be only a matter of time.
Every transmission from one animal to another, or to a human, is an opportunity for the virus to mutate, or to mix with other influenza viruses.
It’s therefore imperative that the virus is not allowed to spread unchecked in animals.
WHO is working closely with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in a One Health approach to managing the threat of H5 globally.
We call on all countries to strengthen biosecurity on farms, testing and surveillance, and to provide personal protective equipment to farm workers who may be at risk.
We also call on all countries with outbreaks of H5 among animals to share viral samples and sequences with the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, or GISRS.
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Finally, this month many countries around the world are raising awareness about cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is the fourth-most common cancer in women globally, with an estimated 660 000 cases and 350 000 deaths each year.
And yet cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented and cured if detected early.
Most cases and deaths occur in low and middle-income countries that lack access to vaccines, screening, and treatment.
On the 17th of November 2020, WHO launched a global initiative on cervical cancer elimination.
Since then, dozens of countries have introduced vaccines to prevent the disease, and many are also rolling out next generation diagnostics.
Eliminating cervical cancer is within reach, if we can give all girls and women access to vaccines, tests and treatments.
Preventing cervical cancer is one dimension of WHO’s work to promote, provide and protect maternal health, which we have chosen as our theme for World Health Day this year.
Margaret, back to you.
