“This appeal is a call to support people experiencing conflict, displacement and disasters. give them not only services, but also the confidence that the world has not turned its back on them”said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The 2026 appeal seeks to respond to 36 emergencies around the world, including 14 “grade 3” crises that require the highest level of organizational response at a time of sharp funding cuts while health and humanitarian funding is experiencing its biggest drop in a decade, the agency said.
“Around 250 million people are experiencing humanitarian crises that have deprived them of safety, shelter and access to health care. [while] Global defense spending now exceeds $2.5 trillion a year,” Tedros said at the launch in Geneva.
“It’s not charity”
With the requested resources, WHO can maintain life-saving care in the world’s most serious emergencies while “building a bridge to peace,” said the lead agency for health response in humanitarian settings, which coordinates more than 1,500 partners in 24 crisis settings around the world, ensuring that national authorities and local partners remain at the center of emergency efforts.
“It is not charity,” the WHO chief said.
“Is a strategic investment in health and safety. “Access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities, and offers a path to recovery.”
Priority response areas
As global humanitarian funding continues to contract, the 2026 appeal comes at a time of converging global pressures as protracted conflicts, the growing impacts of climate change and recurring outbreaks of infectious diseases drive growing demand for emergency health support.
WHO emergency response priority areas will include Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
Efforts will also address current cholera and mpox outbreaks.
‘Forced to make difficult decisions’
“Renewed commitments and solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support people living in the most fragile and vulnerable environments,” WHO said.
With dwindling funding, WHO and other humanitarian partners have been “forced to make difficult decisions” to prioritize the most critical interventions, the UN agency said, adding that what remains are the most impactful activities, including:
- keep essential health facilities operational
- delivery of emergency medical supplies and trauma care
- prevent and respond to outbreaks
- restore routine immunization
- Ensure access to sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health services in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Emergency services reach millions
Early and predictable investment allows WHO and its partners to respond immediately when crises develop, reducing deaths and illnesses, containing outbreaks and preventing health risks from escalating into broader humanitarian and health security emergencies with much greater human and financial costs, the agency said.
In 2025, WHO and partners supported 30 million people funded through its annual emergency appeal. These resources helped:
- administer life-saving vaccines to 5.3 million children
- Allow 53 million health consultations.
- Support more than 8,000 health facilities.
- facilitate the deployment of 1,370 mobile clinics
Last year, humanitarian funding fell below 2016 levels, leaving WHO and its partners only able to reach a third of the 81 million people initially planned to receive humanitarian healthcare.
Learn more about WHO’s efforts here.
