Progress in tackling some of the big killers is backsliding, putting the health of millions at risk.
Every year the World Health Organization publishes a global health statistics report. It features the numbers behind world health trends and, importantly, assesses whether we’re on track to reach ambitious goals set in 2015. It’s a bit like a health grade.
The 2026 report was published on Wednesday. And the results aren’t looking brilliant. While we are seeing some improvements, they are uneven, and they’re far too slow.
The targets themselves are part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a sprawling and ambitious plan focused on improving life around the world. The 17 goals were set to tackle poverty and climate change and to boost education, gender equality, health, and well-being, among many other quality of life issues. Those targets were meant to be met by 2030.
Perhaps they were a little too ambitious. Here are the numbers and statistics that stood out to me on this year’s world health report card.
1.3 million new cases of HIV in 2024
Before the SDGs, there were the Millennium Development Goals. One MDG target was to halt and reverse the spread of HIV—and that target was exceeded by 2015. Back then, we were considered on track to “end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”
How depressing, then, to see that in 2024 there were an estimated 1.3 million new cases of HIV. That’s 40% lower than the figure from 2010. But it’s still 1.3 million additional people with HIV. The SDG target is to reduce HIV incidence by 90% by 2030—we’re not likely to meet it.
10.7 million new cases of TB
The picture is even bleaker for tuberculosis, which ranks 10th on the WHO’s list of top global causes of death. The goal was to reduce cases by 80% between 2015 and 2030. So far, cases have only fallen by a measly 12%. And when you break the change down by region, the Americas saw an increase of 13%
An 8.5% rise in malaria cases
And then there’s malaria, the mosquito-borne disease with a 7% fatality rate. The European region has been free of malaria since 2015, but the disease is a significant concern in many countries in the Global South, particularly in Africa. The goal was to lower rates by 90% between 2015 and 2030. In 2024, there were an estimated 282 million cases of malaria globally—representing an 8.5% increase in incidence rates.
Antimalarial drug resistance is a major challenge here—forms of the malaria virus that are resistant to drugs have been confirmed or suspected in eight countries in Africa, according to a separate WHO report. Mosquitoes that are resistant to commonly used insecticides are present in nine African countries. And climate change, which can alter mosquito habitats, may be making things worse.
42.8 million children are wasting
We’re not meeting child health targets, either. Take malnutrition, for example. As of 2024, the global prevalence of wasting in children was 6.6%—that’s a staggering 42.8 million children who are literally wasting away because of a lack of adequate food. On the other end of the spectrum, 5.5% of children are now considered overweight. Both figures were meant to be below 5% by 2030, which now seems unlikely.
Vaccination rates are dropping in the Americas
Progress in improving childhood vaccination coverage has stalled. Globally, an estimated 76% of children are getting their second dose of a measles vaccine—a figure far below the the approximately 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. The Americas currently has lower rates of vaccine coverage for three of the four “core” vaccines than it did in 2015.
This is partly due to a lack of investment, says Goodarz Danaei, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “But now we have a misinformation campaign going around vaccines that makes it worse,” he adds.
The covid-19 pandemic didn’t exactly help, either. The impact on health services led to millions of children missing out on routine vaccinations.
22.1 million pandemic-related deaths
And of course the pandemic affected progress toward health goals in more direct ways: 7 million people died of covid-19. The WHO report estimates that, for each of these, there were an additional two “excess” deaths related to the pandemic, due to disruptions in health care, for example. That puts the total figure at 22.1 million pandemic-related deaths.
A woman dies every two minutes from “maternal causes”
Maternal mortality rates fell by about 40% between 2020 and 2023. But today’s rate equates to 712 maternal deaths every single day. That’s one every two minutes. The WHO report notes that we’d have to reduce the mortality rate by almost 15% per year in order to meet the 2030 target. This seems incredibly unlikely, particularly given the recent decimation of US funding for global aid programs, which is expected to result in thousands of additional maternal deaths.
Progress has also slowed in reducing the risk of death from noninfectious diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. “Overall, neither the world nor any WHO region is currently on track to meet the 2030 SDG target,” the report states.
2.1 billion people struggle to afford health care
Despite plans to make health care more affordable, a significant chunk of the population is being pushed into poverty by health-care costs. In 2022, 2.1 billion people faced financial hardship due to health spending—and 1.6 billion of them were living in or had been pushed into poverty.
Across the board, there have been some important improvements in global health. But the achievements have not gone far enough. “The good news is that there is progress,” says Danaei. “But as always, the glass is half empty.”
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.
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Facts Only
The World Health Organization (WHO) published its 2026 global health statistics report on Wednesday.
The report assesses progress toward the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set in 2015 with a 2030 deadline.
In 2024, there were 1.3 million new HIV cases, a 40% reduction from 2010 but far from the 90% reduction target.
Tuberculosis cases decreased by only 12% between 2015 and 2024, with a 13% increase in the Americas.
Malaria cases rose by 8.5% in 2024, with 282 million cases globally.
Antimalarial drug resistance and insecticide-resistant mosquitoes are present in multiple African countries.
42.8 million children suffered from wasting in 2024, with 6.6% global prevalence.
Childhood vaccination coverage stalled, with 76% receiving the second measles dose, below the 95% target.
The Americas saw lower vaccination rates for three of four core vaccines compared to 2015.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused 7 million direct deaths and an estimated 22.1 million pandemic-related deaths.
Maternal mortality remains high, with one death every two minutes.
2.1 billion people faced financial hardship due to healthcare costs in 2022.
Executive Summary
The world is significantly off track to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health by 2030, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report. While some progress has been made, it remains uneven and insufficient across key health indicators. HIV cases, though 40% lower than in 2010, still reached 1.3 million in 2024, far from the 90% reduction target. Tuberculosis cases have only decreased by 12% since 2015, with some regions, like the Americas, seeing increases. Malaria cases rose by 8.5% in 2024, compounded by drug resistance and climate change impacts. Child malnutrition persists, with 42.8 million children suffering from wasting, while vaccination rates, particularly in the Americas, have declined due to misinformation and pandemic disruptions. Maternal mortality remains alarmingly high, with one death every two minutes, and 2.1 billion people face financial hardship due to healthcare costs. The COVID-19 pandemic further derailed progress, contributing to 22.1 million pandemic-related deaths. Despite these challenges, the report notes incremental improvements, though the pace is insufficient to meet the 2030 targets.
The WHO report highlights systemic failures in global health equity, with disparities in progress across regions and diseases. While some areas, like Europe, have eliminated diseases like malaria, others, particularly in the Global South, continue to struggle with preventable illnesses. The report underscores the need for increased investment, better healthcare infrastructure, and targeted interventions to address these gaps. However, geopolitical and economic factors, such as reduced funding for global aid programs, pose additional hurdles. The findings serve as a stark reminder of the work required to achieve the SDGs, emphasizing that current efforts, while noteworthy, are not enough to ensure health equity by the deadline.
Full Take
The WHO report paints a sobering picture of global health progress, revealing systemic failures in meeting ambitious but necessary targets. The strongest version of this narrative is that despite incremental improvements, structural inequities, underinvestment, and external shocks like the pandemic have derailed progress. The report deserves credit for its transparency in highlighting these gaps, particularly in regions like the Global South, where preventable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis continue to ravage communities. However, the framing of these challenges risks reinforcing a sense of inevitability—"the glass is half empty"—without sufficiently interrogating the root causes of these failures.
Patterns detected: ARC-0024 Ambiguity (the report acknowledges progress but leaves unresolved why certain regions lag), ARC-0043 Motte-and-Bailey (broad goals like "health equity" are easy to endorse but hard to operationalize).
The root cause of this stagnation lies in the tension between ambitious global targets and the political and economic realities of implementation. The SDGs were designed as a universal call to action, but their success hinges on sustained funding, infrastructure, and political will—resources that are unevenly distributed and often diverted by crises like pandemics or geopolitical conflicts. The report’s focus on metrics like vaccination rates and disease incidence obscures deeper questions: Why do some regions thrive while others flounder? How much of this failure is due to systemic neglect versus unforeseen challenges?
The implications for human agency are profound. If the world cannot meet basic health targets, what does that say about our collective capacity to address more complex crises like climate change? The report’s findings suggest that without radical shifts in prioritization—such as redirecting military spending to global health or enforcing accountability for aid commitments—the 2030 goals will remain aspirational.
Bridge questions: What would it take to turn these trends around? Are the SDGs themselves flawed, or is the issue execution? How can we reconcile the urgency of these health crises with the slow pace of international cooperation?
Counterstrike scan: A bad actor seeking to undermine global health initiatives might weaponize this report to argue that the SDGs are unrealistic or that aid is ineffective. However, the content does not align with such a narrative; it presents data neutrally and calls for renewed effort rather than abandonment. The report’s tone is cautionary, not defeatist, and its emphasis on disparities serves as a call to action rather than a justification for inaction.
Sentinel — Human
The article exhibits the characteristic flow, specific statistical grounding, and rhetorical emphasis of human-authored, data-driven journalistic synthesis.