Global health had another difficult year in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, but the attention of leaders, emergency interventions by governments, and the extraordinary resources spent for pandemic response are gone. The media interest that transformed public health experts into pundits has focused on other stories. One such story—the war in Ukraine—has produced thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, and billions of dollars in economic losses, humanitarian assistance, and military aid. The potential for a global economic downturn looms large over the aid budgets and health diplomacy. 

However, all is not doom and gloom in 2022. The World Health Organization started to revise the International Health Regulations and negotiate a pandemic accord. The Global Fund was replenished at a record level. The World Bank launched a Pandemic Fund to spur country-led preparedness. Regional vaccine manufacturing received more attention. The UN General Assembly is again addressing health topics beyond COVID-19.   

Meanwhile, the global health to-do list only gets longer. In May, Mpox cases began spreading globally. In June, polio appeared in New York and later in London and Jerusalem. In September, Uganda suffered an Ebola outbreak. In December, COVID cases were spreading in China at an unprecedented rate for this pandemic. Twenty-three million children around the world missed regular immunizations over the last two years. Food insecurity is increasing. Global health programs have no answer for the chronic disease threat or the dangers of climate change.  

We published 175 articles from 240 authors this year. The best of these stories brought new, often personal insights to bear on global health, its challenges, and its resilience. Our authors provide us hope for 2023, a year that can deliver a brighter future. 

1. The Curious Case of Japan's Alcohol Contest
2. Cancer in Africa, a Financially Devastating Disease 
3. Notes from a War-Torn Childhood in Bosnia
4. Growing Old in China in the Age of Abundance 
5. The United States Needs a Foreign Health Service
6. The Emerging Health Crisis of Microplastic Debris
7. The Quest for Social Connection and Well-Being 
8. Pakistan's Femicide Crisis
9. Poland's New 'Pregnancy Registry' Raises Red Flags
10. The Spiritual Dimension of COVID-19 in Africa
11. COVID-19 Led to Worse Social and Economic Consequences for Women
12. The Tangled Problem of Sugarcane Burning in Thailand
13. Inside the Lab that Identified Omicron
14. Wanted: Global Access to Paxlovid
15. U.S. Abortion Law and Dissenting from the Norm
16. The Steep Price of Education in Africa
17. Paul Farmer Believed Global Health and Health Equity Were About Teamwork
18. Disarming Russia's Bioweapons Disinformation
19. A New and Weak WTO Deal on TRIPS is Not Fit for Purpose
20. Moving the Needle on Health Disinformation
21. India Needs Cancer Care Outside its Big Cities
22. The Global Fund, PEPFAR, and U.S. Foreign Policy
23. Opioid Overdoses Are Reaching New Highs in Washington, DC