New WHO Report Highlights Ongoing Gaps in Global Health Equity

12 May 2025

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that significant disparities remain in healthy life expectancy based on factors such as geography, income, race, gender, education, and disability. These differences, the report states, are largely influenced by social determinants of health—conditions in which people are born, live, work, and age. 

On 12 October 2016 in Jérémie, Haiti, Mylove Théogène, 8, washes dishes with a small amount of water outside her collapsed home. Mylove’s family stayed in their home on a hilltop until their home collapsed around 5:00am on the night Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti. Then, the family then moved to a school house for shelter. "I thought I was going to die. I thought my family would all die" said Mylove. The family of five lost their father in February 2016, when he fell from a tree while collecting fruit f

The World report on social determinants of health equity, launched on 6 May 2025, reviews the insufficient progress on meeting the Commission on Social Determinants of Health’s targets on achieving health equity and focuses the narrative and action agenda on what produces and reproduces health inequities and what proven policy remedies are available.  

The report outlines 14 recommendations within four key action areas, emphasizing policies that can help close these gaps.

The report includes global case studies, showcasing how countries are implementing strategies to promote health equity. The report was developed with input from scientific and policy advisory groups, commissioned papers and evidence reviews, extensive internal contributions across the three levels of WHO, and consultation with Member States through the Executive Board and World Health Assembly.

Explore the report here. 

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