WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 16 July 2026

Good afternoon to those in the room, and good morning, good afternoon and good evening to those online.

Yesterday marked two months since the Government of the DRC declared the epidemic of Ebola.

Since then, the outbreak has expanded rapidly.

It is now the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record, and in the past month, it has expanded faster than any previous outbreak.

So far, 2073 cases have been reported, with 796 deaths.

By comparison, the 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in DRC took more than 10 months to reach 2000 confirmed cases.

Intense transmission in the province of Ituri remains our biggest concern.

More than 80 percent of new cases are being detected outside known contact lists, showing that transmission chains are still being missed.

About two-thirds of deaths are occurring in communities, among people who never receive care in a health facility.

Together with Africa CDC and other partners, WHO is supporting the government to scale up the response.

Treatment capacity now exceeds 800 beds and continues to increase;

Laboratory capacity has expanded from just one lab to 16;

Contact follow-up rates have increased to almost 80 percent;

More than 21 000 community workers are being trained;

And safe and dignified burials have improved significantly.

There is also encouraging progress on vaccines and therapeutics.

Earlier this month we began a clinical trial of two treatments, the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir.

On Monday, the first safety trial began of the ChAdOx1 vaccine, led by the University of Oxford;

And on Tuesday this week, partners led by DRC's National Institute for Biomedical Research launched a trial of the antiviral obeldesivir as post-exposure prophylaxis in people who have been in contact with confirmed cases, but have not yet developed disease.

Even without approved vaccines and treatments, 377 people have recovered, showing that with early diagnosis and safe care, this disease can be survived and stopped.

In Uganda, the last confirmed case is being discharged from care today, starting the 42-day countdown to the end of that country's outbreak, with 20 cases and two deaths.

Despite the progress we have made, the outbreak in DRC is continuing to outpace the response.

Active armed conflict is hampering access to the affected areas, and hindering the response.

Just yesterday, a treatment centre in Bunia was attacked.

We face several technical challenges, but we also need political intervention to facilitate the scale-up in the response that we need.

Our priorities are to reduce transmission in Ituri by strengthening surveillance, safe and dignified burials, clinical management and community engagement;

And by strengthening response capacity in newly-affected provinces before transmission becomes established.

But to do this, we urgently need the support of the international community.

We still face a shortfall of more than US$ 400 million in the joint WHO-Africa CDC Continental Preparedness and Response Plan.

We urge donors to fill this gap, and to help us to control this outbreak as quickly as possible.

This is not charity, it's an investment in national security.

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While we don't yet have a vaccine for Bundibugyo virus, there are many other once-feared diseases that can now be easily prevented with vaccines, from measles to polio and cervical cancer.

Yesterday, WHO and UNICEF published our annual estimates on the levels of immunization coverage in countries around the world.

In 2025, 90 percent of infants globally received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine, and 85 percent completed the full three-dose series.

Both measures are slightly higher than 2024, but still below 2019 levels and within the same narrow range since 2009.

Even before COVID-19, immunization coverage had stalled globally. The pandemic disrupted routine immunization systems, reversing gains.

In response, WHO, UNICEF and Gavi launched the "Big Catch-Up" to reach children who missed out on one or all routine vaccines.

Over the past three years, we reached more than 14 of the 34 million "zero-dose" children, delivering more than 125 million doses in 36 countries.

Thanks to the Big Catch-Up, we have recovered the ground we lost.

However, our new data show there were still an estimated 13.5 million "zero-dose" children under one year of age who did not receive a single vaccine in 2025.

While this represents a small improvement on the previous year, it's far short of the target that countries set for themselves to reduce the number of "zero-dose" children to 6.4 million by 2030.

And the gains we see are undermined by a rising number of children who receive one dose, but do not complete the full immunization schedule, leaving them insufficiently protected.

Vaccines are among the best investments in public health, health security and sustainable development.

They pay a rich dividend in lives saved, and in healthier, safer and more productive populations.

WHO calls on all countries and donors to invest in reaching the 2030 target, including by fully funding Gavi.

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Vaccines are especially important for protecting children in the earliest years of life.

At the other end of life, many countries are confronting an increasing burden of dementia and cognitive decline with ageing populations.

Dementia is among the greatest health and social challenges of our time, touching people, families, and communities everywhere.

More than 57 million people live with dementia worldwide and almost 10 million people are newly diagnosed every year.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 to 70 percent of cases.

While there is no cure for dementia, it can be prevented or delayed by avoiding risk factors including tobacco, alcohol use, social isolation, physical inactivity, air pollution, and by treating high blood pressure, diabetes and hearing loss.

Yesterday, WHO published updated guidelines on reducing the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, providing practical, evidence-based recommendations.

Protecting brain health is not the responsibility of the health sector alone. It requires coordinated action across governments, communities, and systems.

WHO calls on all countries and partners to integrate dementia risk reduction into primary health care and programmes for noncommunicable diseases, mental health, healthy ageing and community health.

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Finally, on Monday next week, United Nations Member States will meet in New York for the High-Level Meeting on Road Safety.

We expect Member States to adopt a strong political declaration, which they have been negotiating over the past few months.

It commits them to implementing national road safety strategies with clear targets, timelines and budgets.

The draft declaration also includes commitments to establish road safety agencies, improve data collection, develop and enforce strong laws, and ensure infrastructure and vehicles meet key safety standards.

It also commits countries to adopt the proven "safe systems" approach, which accepts that people will always make mistakes on the roads, and so designs roads, speed limits and rules around levels the human body can survive when a crash occurs.

To coincide with the meeting, WHO will also publish a new report next week showing encouraging progress in road safety, although insufficient to meet the global target of a 50 percent reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

Christian, back to you.