Earlier this year, people around the world, sick of the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, had to contend with a highly contagious new variant, Omicron.
After Omicron
This latest version swept across Europe, leading to a record number of weekly cases, albeit with relatively low death tolls compared to previous outbreaks.
And while many countries have begun easing lockdowns and other restrictions on movement, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the disease remains a threat.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to remain vigilant at the agency’s World Health Assembly in May, the first face-to-face meeting since 2019, before the pandemic.
“Is COVID-19 over? No, it’s not over. I know that’s not the message you want to hear and it’s definitely not the message I want to convey,” he told the delegation. told to
1 billion COVAX jabs delivered
From the early days of the pandemic, WHO has consistently called for unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and to do more for people living in developing countries. In his January, when Rwanda recorded his billionth vaccination, the vaccine was available for all.
COVAX has undoubtedly saved many lives, but Tedros warned that by March, a third of the world’s population had yet to receive a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
This lack of equity was still a problem when a WHO report confirmed it in November.
“This is unacceptable to me and should not be acceptable to anyone,” Tedros said. “If the world’s rich benefit from high vaccination coverage, why shouldn’t the world’s poor? Are some lives more valuable than others? ?”
Goals to end AIDS are off track
In 2021, there will be 1.5 million new HIV infections and 650,000 AIDS-related deaths. UN member states signed a political declaration at the UN General Assembly in 2021, announcing their commitment to ending the virus by the end of 2021, a goal met.
A July report found that the rate of decline in HIV infections slowed to 3.6% between 2020 and 2021, the lowest annual rate of decline in new HIV infections since 2016. It strains resources and damages HIV programs.
On World AIDS Day in November, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared the 2030 target off track, citing ongoing discrimination, stigma and exclusion that many people living with HIV still face. I pointed out that
This year saw promising developments in drug treatment: in March, the first injections offering long-term protection against HIV were rolled out in South Africa and Brazil as an alternative to daily medication.
The WHO has recommended the use of cabotegravir, a drug that requires only six injections per year, for people at high risk of HIV infection. In July, the United Nations reached an agreement with the company that developed the drug to allow it to be manufactured in developing countries as a low-cost generic formulation. This could save many lives.
Ebola hits Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda
In April, health workers were mobilized to fight a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “With an effective vaccine on hand and the experience of health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in responding to Ebola, we can quickly change the course of this outbreak for the better,” said Masidiso, WHO Regional Director for Africa. Dr. Moeti said.
An outbreak was also reported in neighboring Uganda in August after six suspected deaths in the central Mubende district, a gold mining area that attracts workers from many parts of Uganda and other countries. .
In the following month, WHO expanded its response efforts, delivering medical supplies, providing supplies and deploying staff to assist Ugandan authorities in halting the spread of the virus.
By mid-November, 141 cases and 55 deaths had been confirmed, and the United Nations health agency reaffirmed that it was working closely with Ugandan authorities to accelerate the development of a new vaccine.
Cholera returns to Haiti, threatens Middle East
As the security situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, cholera returned with unwelcome frequency to the troubled country in October. This was associated with deteriorating sanitation systems and lawlessness, making it more difficult for patients to seek treatment.
The situation was exacerbated by the gang’s blockade of Haiti’s main fuel terminal. This caused fatal fuel shortages, forced many hospitals and health centers to close, and affected water distribution.
UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, declared in November that about 40% of Haiti’s cases are caused by young people and called for $27.5 million to save lives from the disease.
Haiti was not the only country affected by a bacterial disease, with an outbreak that broke out in the Syrian city of Aleppo in September as people drank unsafe water from the Euphrates River and used contaminated water. It was the first outbreak in Lebanon in 30 years and spread across the country in November. The WHO has declared the situation fragile as Lebanon faces a protracted crisis and limited access to clean water and adequate sanitation throughout the country.
WHO data released in December showed cases in about 30 countries, but fewer than 20 had reported infections in the past five years.
Dr Barbosa, WHO Cholera and Epidemic Diarrhea Team Leader, said:
Barbosa said conflict and large-scale migration continue to be the main factors enabling the spread of cholera, while the climate crisis plays a direct role in the increasing number of concurrent outbreaks.
Mpox: A new health emergency
For many, monkeypox was an unknown word to learn in 2022, but the disease has been associated with human ailments since 1970. Monkeypox, renamed by WHO as mpox, occurs mainly in rainforest regions of Central and West Africa, but outbreaks have begun. It will appear in other parts of the world this year.
In May, the WHO struggled to allay concerns that the outbreak resembled the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that most infected people recover within weeks without treatment.
However, as the number of cases worldwide increased, the WHO declared mpox a “global health emergency of international concern” in July. Tedros stressed that the virus is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those who have multiple sexual partners, and that the epidemic can be contained “with the right group and the right strategy”. did.
A senior WHO official said in August that the international community only became interested in mpox after it spread in developed countries.
“We have been working on mpox in Africa for several years, but no one has been interested,” said Ibrahima Soce, assistant director general for emergencies, in August.
In late November, the WHO announced that monkeypox would be called mpox, citing reports of racist and stigmatizing language surrounding the disease’s name.
By December, more than 80,000 cases had been reported in 110 countries, with 55 deaths.
A major malaria breakthrough
Hopes of ending malaria rose in August when UNICEF announced that it had struck a $170 million contract with pharmaceutical giant GSK to produce the world’s first malaria vaccine.
Malaria remains one of the leading killers of children under the age of five. In 2020, nearly 500,000 of her boys and girls were dying from the disease in Africa alone, with one death every minute.
“This is a major step forward in our joint efforts to save children’s lives and reduce the burden of malaria as part of a broader malaria prevention and control programme,” said UNICEF’s Director of Supply. said Etreva Kadiri.
Plans are already underway to boost production, including through technology transfer, “so that all at-risk children will one day have the opportunity to be vaccinated against this deadly disease,” UNICEF said. Added.