Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking at the 77th World Health Assembly, as he presented the report on WHO's work in 2023.

"This is the only one of the three targets that we estimate will be met, with an estimated 1.5 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being by 2025," he said.

According to the official, tobacco use is declining in 150 countries and there are now 19 million fewer smokers than two years ago worldwide, with more than 90 countries increasing tobacco taxes between 2020 and 2022.

"Last year, 13 more countries adopted or implemented measures (...) to eliminate industrially-produced trans-fat" (found mainly in ultra-processed foods), he said, adding that "almost half the world's population is now protected by such measures, up from just 7% in 2018", when WHO launched a call to this end.

The United Nations health agency estimates that these measures have "reduced deaths from trans-fat by two-thirds".

He also highlighted that more and more countries are taking measures to combat obesity and increase breastfeeding, with 28 having increased taxes on alcohol or sugary drinks.

Last year, WHO responded to 65 emergencies, including the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and the conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.

The most worrying disease outbreaks were cholera, dengue, diphtheria, hepatitis E, measles and mpox (known as "monkeypox"), he said.

The organisation estimates that 777 million more people will be better protected against health emergencies by 2025, which represents three-quarters of the established target of one billion.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also indicated that 2023 was a productive year in terms of the organisation's work in supporting access to medicines and other health products.

"We prequalified 120 medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and other products, for HIV, malaria, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, Ebola, polio and covid-19, including the first long-acting insulin analogues" and "issued eight alerts for substandard or falsified medical products", he exemplified.

He also mentioned that WHO continues "to support countries in responding to the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance, which kills at least 1.3 million people each year".

Regarding the goal of one billion more people benefiting from universal health coverage by 2025, the official regretted that the estimates point to just over half (585 million).

The WHO director-general stated that climate change could be the greatest threat to health and pointed out that 149 countries signed the declaration on the subject issued at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), at the end of 2023, and that donors committed "over US$1 billion (€920.6 billion) to address the impacts".

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also presented an overview of the organisation's work on vaccination, reducing maternal and infant mortality, eradicating polio, strengthening health systems and non-communicable diseases.

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