The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its 2026 Global Health Emergency Appeal on Tuesday to ensure that millions of people living in humanitarian crises and conflicts have access to healthcare. The appeal seeks nearly US$1 billion to respond to 36 emergencies worldwide, including the world’s most severe crises, ranging from sudden-onset to protracted crises where health needs are critical.
“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 WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“It is not charity. It is a strategic investment in health and security. In fact, access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities and offers a pathway toward recovery.”
In 2025, WHO and its partners supported 30 million people through its annual emergency appeal. These resources helped to deliver life-saving vaccinations to 5.3 million children, enable 53 million health consultations, support over 8,000 health facilities, and facilitate the deployment of 1,370 mobile clinics.
The 2026 appeal comes at a time of mounting global pressures. Protracted conflicts, escalating climate change impacts, and recurring infectious disease outbreaks are driving up the demand for health emergency support, yet global humanitarian financing continues to shrink.
In 2025, humanitarian funding dropped below 2016 levels, enabling the WHO and its partners to assist only one-third of the originally targeted 81 million people. Funding cuts forced 6,700 health facilities in 22 settings to close or reduce services last year, cutting off 53 million people from health care.
The organization stressed that renewed commitments and solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support people living in the most fragile and vulnerable settings. Overall, at least 240 million people are facing humanitarian crises due to conflict, climate shocks, and disease outbreaks worldwide this year.
Priorities in responding to health emergencies
In 2026, WHO's priority emergency response areas will include the world’s worst humanitarian crises, such as those in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Myanmar, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, in addition to ongoing cholera and mpox outbreaks.
As the lead agency for health response in humanitarian crises, WHO coordinates the efforts of over 1,500 aid agencies in 24 crisis settings worldwide, ensuring that national authorities and local partners remain at the center of the emergency response.
“Every humanitarian crisis is a health crisis. That is why Ireland is proud to support the WHO emergency response through unearmarked, flexible and predictable funding of the Contingency Fund for Emergencies,” said Noel White, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, speaking as co-chair at the launch event.
WHO's and its partners' emergency response actions include maintaining essential health facility operations, delivering emergency medical supplies and trauma care, preventing and responding to outbreaks, restoring routine immunization, and ensuring access to sexual, reproductive, maternal, and child health services in vulnerable settings and those affected by conflict.
Early, predictable investment enables WHO and its partner organizations to respond immediately when crises strike. This reduces morbidity and mortality, contains outbreaks, and prevents health risks from escalating into much larger humanitarian and health security crises.
Families face impossible decisions
Chikwe Ihekweazu, the executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told journalists in Geneva that families living on the edge are forced to make impossible decisions, such as choosing between buying food or medicine. People should never have to make these choices, he added.
In response to reporters' questions, Ihekweazu specified that in 2025, WHO requested $1.5 billion, but received only about $900 million. Considering this and the current global situation, the WHO adjusted its request for 2026. At the same time, the UN organization has prioritized its work, focusing on those in most critical need.
In response to another question, Ihekweazu explained that WHO often deals with the consequences of conflicts around the world, which emphasizes the need for peace and unrestricted humanitarian access even more. If the WHO did not perform this work, the consequences for people around the world would be even more severe.
While the WHO and its humanitarian allies have been forced to make difficult choices to prioritize critical interventions, their efforts remain impactful. According to WHO, with the requested resources, the UN agency can provide life-saving care in the world’s most severe emergencies "while building a bridge towards peace."
Further information
Full text: WHO's Health Emergency Appeal 2026, World Health Organization (WHO), report, published February 3, 2026
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/emergencies/2026-appeals/who-health-emergency-appeal-2026.pdf