EuroWire, GENEVA: The World Health Organization has launched a 2026 global appeal for nearly $1 billion to keep essential health services running for people caught in conflict, displacement and disasters, warning that shrinking humanitarian funding is already disrupting care in multiple crisis zones. WHO said the appeal is designed to help health responders reach communities where hospitals and clinics are damaged, understaffed or running out of supplies, and where outbreaks can spread rapidly.
The appeal seeks nearly $1 billion to respond to 36 emergencies worldwide, including 14 Grade 3 emergencies, the agency’s highest emergency activation level. WHO said the emergencies span sudden-onset shocks and protracted crises in which health needs remain acute over months or years. The appeal calls for flexible, early funding to sustain life-saving care and support emergency coordination in settings where local health systems are under severe strain.
WHO said health emergencies are escalating as protracted conflicts, climate-related shocks and recurring infectious disease outbreaks overlap. It estimates that about 239 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2026, with health services often among the first to collapse and among the hardest to restore. WHO said that when routine care breaks down, preventable deaths rise and the risks of wider outbreaks increase, particularly in crowded displacement settings.
In 2025, WHO said it and its partners supported 30 million people using funds from its annual emergency appeal. The agency said those resources helped deliver life-saving vaccinations to 5.3 million children, enabled 53 million health consultations, supported more than 8,000 health facilities and facilitated the deployment of 1,370 mobile clinics. WHO said the work included keeping frontline services operating while responding to emergencies that limited safe access for patients and health workers.
Funding gap strains frontline care
WHO said humanitarian funding in 2025 fell below 2016 levels, leaving it and partners able to reach only about one-third of the 81 million people originally targeted to receive humanitarian health assistance. The agency said severe funding constraints across the humanitarian system have disrupted more than 6,600 health facilities, cutting off care for over 53 million people. WHO said the reduction in operational capacity has widened gaps in basic services, including treatment for injuries and infectious diseases.
The agency also cited rising security risks for health workers and facilities. WHO’s appeal materials referenced more than 1,349 attacks on health care across 22 countries and territories in 2025, including incidents affecting clinics, ambulances and medical personnel. WHO said such attacks can force facilities to close, interrupt emergency referrals and complicate the delivery of medicines and supplies, further weakening health services during active crises.
Focus on essential services
WHO said its priority emergency response areas for 2026 include Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territory including the Gaza Strip, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen, alongside ongoing outbreaks of cholera and mpox. As lead agency for health response in many humanitarian settings, WHO said it coordinates more than 1,500 partners across 24 crisis settings to align emergency health action with national authorities and local responders.
The appeal outlines support for keeping essential health facilities operational, delivering emergency medical supplies and trauma care, preventing and responding to outbreaks, restoring routine immunization, and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health services in fragile and conflict-affected settings. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the appeal is “a call to stand with people living through conflict, displacement and disaster,” as the agency seeks funding to sustain core health services where needs are most urgent.