“This appeal is a call to stand with people living through conflict, displacement and disaster to give them not just favors, but 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 worldwide, including 14 “grade 3” crises that require the highest level of organizational response at a time of tight funding cuts as humanitarian and health funding sees its sharpest drop in a decade, the agency said.
“About a quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that have removed 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.
‘Not charity’
With the resources required, WHO can maintain life-saving care in the world’s most severe emergencies while “building a bridge to peace,” said the lead agency for health response in humanitarian settings, which coordinates more than 1,500 partners across 24 crisis situations globally, ensuring national authorities and local partners remain at the center of emergency efforts.
“It’s not charity,” the WHO chief said.
“That’s it a strategic investment in health and safety. Access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities and offers a path to recovery.”
Priority areas of action
As global humanitarian funding continues to contract, the 2026 appeal comes at a time of converging global pressures, as protracted conflicts, escalating climate change and recurring infectious disease outbreaks drive increasing demand for emergency health assistance.
WHO’s priority areas of preparedness will include Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
The effort will also address ongoing outbreaks of cholera and mpox.
‘Forced to make difficult choices’
“Renewed commitments and solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support the people living in the most fragile and vulnerable environments,” WHO said.
With declining funding, the WHO and other humanitarian partners have been “forced to make difficult choices” to prioritize the most critical interventions, the UN agency said, adding that what remains are the most impactful activities, including:
- keep essential health facilities in operation
- delivery of emergency medical supplies and trauma care
- outbreak prevention and response
- restoration of routine immunization
- ensuring access to sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health services in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Emergency services reach millions
Early, predictable investments enable WHO and partners to respond immediately as crises develop, reducing death and illness, containing outbreaks and preventing health risks from escalating into broader humanitarian and health security emergencies with far 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 to:
- deliver life-saving vaccination to 5.3 million children
- enabling 53 million healthcare consultations
- supporting 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 partners to reach only a third of the 81 million people originally targeted to receive humanitarian health assistance.
Find out more about WHO’s efforts here.
