5. Infectious disease prevention
HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis and other infectious diseases will kill an estimated four million people this year, accord to WHO. Vaccine-preventable diseases also are expected to kill thousands of people over the next decade.
Part of the reason why infectious diseases continue to spread is because of weak health systems in endemic countries and insufficient levels of financing, WHO said. As such, WHO said there is “an urgent need for greater political will and increased funding for essential health services; strengthening routine immunization; improving the quality and availability of data to inform planning, and more efforts to mitigate the effects of drug resistance.”
6. Epidemic preparedness
An airborne and highly infectious virus pandemic “is inevitable,” WHO said, but countries around the world continue to spend more on responding to these emergencies than preparing for them. This leaves countries unprepared for when another pandemic strikes and potentially threatens the lives of millions of people, according to WHO.
WHO said countries should invest in evidence-based practices to strengthen their health systems and protect populations from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and other health emergencies.