Looking back at a year that changed the world: WHO's response to COVID-19

This report reflects on WHO’s role at the centre of a global response that has unfolded on a scale that dwarfs any single organization – even one with a footprint of 150 dedicated country offices around the world. WHO is proud of the role we have played in supporting national authorities to control COVID-19 transmission, protect the vulnerable, and save lives, but wherever and whenever there have been accomplishments they belong to us all. First and foremost they belong to all of the communities around the world that have been affected by COVID-19, and that have taken collective and individual action to stop the spread of the virus.

They belong to the health workers who have sacrificed so much to be our first line of defense against the virus, and to keep essential health services running. They belong to the politicians and leaders who have shown the will to tackle COVID-19, and who have given their populations the tools and knowledge they need to protect themselves, with WHO’s support whenever and wherever it has been requested. They belong to the many partner organizations that have worked with WHO to support every aspect of the response. And they belong to every individual and every organization that has contributed financially, materially, and through their actions to support WHO’s work over the past 12 months.

The report concludes that in 2021 we must carry forward our hard-won knowledge, integrate new tools such as vaccines into the response, and marry them to the political will to act in a spirit of multilateralism and solidarity to ensure that WHO is able and empowered to support every country to adapt and deliver their national COVID-19 action plans on the basis of a new global Strategic Response Plan. WHO’s COVID-19 response plan for 2021 adapts the original pillars of WHO’s COVID-19 strategy to incorporate the lessons that we have learned during 2020 in order to address the key emerging challenges that will define our collective progress against COVID-19 over the next 12 months.