WHO Launches 2026 Global Appeal Seeking Nearly US$1 Billion to Support Health Care in Emergencies Worldwide.
GENEVA:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched its 2026 global humanitarian health appeal, calling for nearly US$1 billion to ensure millions of people caught in conflicts, disasters and protracted crises can access life-saving health care.
The appeal aims to support health responses in 36 emergencies worldwide, including 14 Grade 3 emergencies—the most severe crises requiring WHO’s highest level of operational response. These emergencies range from sudden-onset disasters to long-running conflicts where health systems are severely weakened or have collapsed.
In 2025, WHO and its partners reached 30 million people through funding from its annual emergency appeal. Those resources enabled the delivery of life-saving vaccinations to 5.3 million children, facilitated 53 million health consultations, supported over 8,000 health facilities, and allowed for the deployment of 1,370 mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas.
“This appeal is a call to stand with people living through conflict, displacement and disaster – to give them not just services, but the confidence that the world has not turned its back on them,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It is not charity. It is a strategic investment in health and security. Access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities and offers a pathway toward recovery.”
Rising Needs, Shrinking Funding
The 2026 appeal comes amid intensifying global pressures, including protracted conflicts, worsening climate-related emergencies and recurrent outbreaks of infectious diseases. At the same time, global humanitarian funding continues to decline.
In 2025, humanitarian financing fell below 2016 levels, leaving WHO and its partners able to reach only one-third of the 81 million people initially targeted for humanitarian health assistance. WHO warned that without renewed commitments, millions of people in fragile settings will be left without essential care.
“Renewed solidarity is urgently needed to protect people living in the most vulnerable and fragile contexts,” the organization said.
Priority Crisis Settings in 2026
WHO’s emergency response priorities for 2026 include Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen, as well as responses to ongoing outbreaks of cholera and mpox.
As the lead agency for health in humanitarian settings, WHO coordinates more than 1,500 partners across 24 crisis settings, working closely with national authorities and local organizations to ensure effective and locally led responses.
Global Support and Leadership
Speaking at the launch event, Ambassador Noel White, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office in Geneva and co-chair of the event, emphasized the central role of health in humanitarian response.
“Every humanitarian crisis is a health crisis,” he said, noting Ireland’s support for WHO’s emergency response through flexible and predictable funding to the Contingency Fund for Emergencies.
Also speaking as co-chair, Marita Sørheim-Rensvik, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN in Geneva, highlighted WHO’s indispensable role in today’s complex emergencies.
“From protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights to supporting frontline health workers under immense strain, WHO’s role is vital,” she said, calling on Member States to strengthen support so the organization can continue delivering life-saving care.
Life-Saving Priorities
WHO and its partners’ emergency response actions focus on:
keeping essential health facilities operational;
delivering emergency medical supplies and trauma care;
preventing, detecting and responding to disease outbreaks;
restoring routine immunization services; and
ensuring access to sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health care in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
WHO stressed that early and predictable investment allows rapid action when crises strike—reducing deaths, containing outbreaks and preventing health emergencies from escalating into broader humanitarian and global health security crises.
Despite difficult choices made amid funding shortfalls, WHO said the remaining interventions represent the most impactful, life-saving activities. With adequate resources, the organization believes it can sustain critical health services in the world’s most severe emergencies while helping lay the groundwork for stability, recovery and peace.
