The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is seeking nearly one billion dollars to respond to health emergencies worldwide.
The organization disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, noting that it has launched the 2026 global appeal to ensure millions living in humanitarian crises and conflicts can access health care.
It added that in 2025, WHO and partners supported 30 million people through its annual emergency appeal.
“These 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.
“The 2026 appeal seeks nearly one billion dollars to respond to 36 emergencies worldwide, including 14 Grade Three emergencies requiring the highest level of organizational response.
“These emergencies span sudden-onset and protracted humanitarian crises where health needs are critical,” it said.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the appeal was 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.
“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,” Ghebreyesus said.
The Director-General noted that the 2026 appeal comes at a time of converging global pressures, with protracted conflicts, escalating climate change impacts, and recurrent infectious disease outbreaks driving increased demand for health emergency support—while global humanitarian financing continues to contract.
Ghebreyesus said humanitarian funding in 2025 fell below 2016 levels, leaving WHO and partners able to reach only one-third of the 81 million people originally targeted for humanitarian health assistance.
“Renewed commitments and solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support people living in the most fragile and vulnerable settings,” he said.
Ghebreyesus outlined WHO’s priority emergency response areas in 2026, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine, Yemen, and ongoing outbreaks of cholera and mpox.
“As the lead agency for health response in humanitarian settings, WHO coordinates more than 1,500 partners across 24 crisis settings globally, ensuring that national authorities and local partners remain at the centre of emergency response,” he said.
Speaking as co-chair at the launch event, Amb. Noel White, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said every humanitarian crisis is a health crisis.
White added that Ireland was proud to support WHO’s emergency response through unearmarked, flexible, and predictable funding to the Contingency Fund for Emergencies.
Also speaking as co-chair, Ms Marita Sørheim-Rensvik, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations, said that in today’s most complex emergencies, WHO remains indispensable—protecting health and upholding international humanitarian law.
Sørheim-Rensvik noted that the organization also ensures life-saving care reaches people in places where few others can operate.
“From safeguarding access to sexual and reproductive health and rights to supporting frontline health workers under immense strain, WHO’s role is vital.
“Norway calls on all Member States to strengthen support for WHO so it can continue delivering for those who need it most,” she said.
According to her, WHO and partners’ emergency response actions include 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.
“Early, predictable investment enables WHO and partners to respond immediately when crises strike—reducing death and disease, containing outbreaks, and preventing health risks from escalating into wider humanitarian and health security crises with far greater human and financial costs.
“While WHO and other humanitarian partners have been forced to make difficult choices to prioritize the most critical interventions, what remains are the most impactful activities.”
She noted that with the requested resources, WHO could sustain life-saving care in the world’s most severe emergencies while building a bridge toward peace.
