In 2025, countries across all regions confronted a complex and evolving risk
landscape, marked by overlapping outbreaks, protracted humanitarian crises,
climate‑amplified hazards, rapid urbanization, and intensified global mobility.
Against these challenges, WHO and its partners made tangible progress in
strengthening health emergency preparedness. The year demonstrated a clear
shift: from reactive crisis management to proactive preparedness, and from
isolated technical efforts to more integrated, system‑level action.
A defining lesson from the past, which was highlighted in 2025, is that
preparedness begins and ends with communities. Through sustained
investment in community protection and resilience, WHO supported countries
to strengthen risk communication and community engagement,
community‑based detection and response, and the readiness of frontline health
and social workers. At the same time, global learning platforms and practitioner
networks expanded, helping evidence move more quickly from guidance to
practice and enabling countries to adapt faster and more equitably as risks
evolved.
