Between 2021 and 2023, COVID-19 dropped from the world’s leading cause of death to the 20th, while life expectancy surpassed pre-pandemic levels in most nations. Since 2010, the global burden of disease has declined by 12.6%, and deaths from major infectious illnesses such as tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and pneumonia have fallen by 35% and 60%. These improvements reflect decades of investment in vaccines, maternal and newborn care and global health systems led by organizations like the WHO, Gavi and the Global Fund. For the first time in history, infectious disease is no longer humanity’s greatest threat, according to research by The Lancet , an independent general medical journal founded in 1823 in this published study that analyzed data from 204 countries.

Child poverty in East

See Full Page