The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is seeking $1 billion to respond to health emergencies worldwide.
The organisation disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, noting that it has launched the 2026 global appeal to ensure that millions living in humanitarian crises and conflicts can access healthcare.
It also said that in 2025, the WHO and partners supported 30 million people funded 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 $1 billion to respond to 36 emergencies worldwide, including 14 Grade Three emergencies requiring the highest level of organisational response.
”These emergencies span sudden-onset and protracted humanitarian crises where health needs are critical,” it said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, said the appeal was a call to stand with people living through conflict, displacement and disaster to give them not just services but also 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, stabilises communities and offers a pathway toward recovery,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.
The DG said the 2026 appeal came at a time of converging global pressures.
He said the protracted conflicts, the escalating impacts of climate change, and recurrent infectious disease outbreaks are driving increasing demand for health emergency support, while global humanitarian financing continues to contract.
Mr Ghebreyesus said that in 2025, humanitarian funding fell below 2016 levels, leaving WHO and partners able to reach only one-third of the 81 million people originally targeted to receive humanitarian health assistance.
”Renewed commitments and solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support the people living in the most fragile and vulnerable settings,” he said.
He said that WHO’s priority emergency response areas in 2026 would 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 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, Noel White, permanent representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said that every humanitarian crisis was a health crisis.
Mr White said that was why Ireland was proud to support the WHO emergency response through unearmarked, flexible, and predictable funding for the Contingency Fund for Emergencies.
Also speaking as co-chair of the event, Marita Sørheim-Rensvik, deputy permanent representative of Norway to the United Nations, said that in today’s most complex emergencies, WHO remained indispensable, protecting health and upholding international humanitarian law.
Ms Sørheim-Rensvik said the organisation also ensures life-saving care reaches people in places where few others can operate.
”Norway calls on all member states to strengthen support for the WHO so it can continue delivering for those who need it most,” she said.
According to her, the WHO and partners’ emergency response actions include keeping essential health facilities operational and delivering emergency medical supplies and trauma care.
”Others are preventing and responding to outbreaks, restoring routine immunisation, 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 prioritise the most critical interventions, what remains are the most impactful activities,” Ms Sørheim-Rensvik said.
She noted that, with the requested resources, WHO could sustain life-saving care in the world’s most severe emergencies while building a bridge towards peace.
(NAN)