Executive Summary
As 2023 has come to an end, we are pleased to present this biennial report for 2022–2023 under the Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13). The World Health Organization remains steadfast in its commitment to achieving measurable impact in countries, central to its mission of promoting health, ensuring global safety, and serving vulnerable populations.
GPW 13 is pursuing ambitious triple billion targets encompassing (a) healthier populations, (b) universal health coverage, and (c) health emergencies.
Together, these goals aspire to ensure that more people enjoy improved health and well-being, benefit from universal health coverage, and are better shielded from health emergencies – aligning seamlessly with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). GPW 13 delineates WHO’s strategies to achieve these goals, emphasizing global health leadership, providing global public health goods and technical products, and comprehensive country support.
The impact of the triple billion targets is monumental, presenting a unified approach to advancing health-related SDGs and contributing significantly to extending healthy life expectancy.
However, despite promising progress towards healthier populations, this report indicates that our current trajectory is insufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We have achieved only one quarter of the milestones necessary to achieve the target of 1 billion healthier people.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates projected that by 2023, an additional 900 million people would experience improved health and well-being compared to the 2018 baseline. Current achievements primarily revolve around enhanced access to clean household fuels, safe water and sanitation (WASH), and effective tobacco control.
Furthermore, the imperative of addressing inequalities between and within countries cannot be overstated. Strikingly, only a handful of countries have achieved 80% of the requisite progress towards these targets. Achieving global health targets and universal health for all necessitates the sustained implementation of evidence-based policy solutions.
The journey towards achieving healthier populations and the health-related SDGs is marked by commendable progress, persistent challenges, and abundant opportunities. With the target of 1 billion people enjoying improved health still on the horizon, this is a call to collectively intensify efforts, focus on key indicators, and prioritize equity to ensure that health and well-being are attainable for all.
This report reflects the achievements and challenges of the past biennium, with the integrated work of the UHP Cluster setting the cornerstone for future strategies to continue improving global health outcomes. As we enter the final stretch of the GPW 13, the next two years will serve to strengthen countries’ capacity to accelerate progress towards achieving the triple billion targets and health-related SDGs.