“This call is a call to stand with people experiencing conflict, displacement and disaster. provide them not only with services, but also with the certainty that the world has not turned its back on them” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The 2026 appeal aims to respond to 36 emergencies around the world, including 14 “level 3” crises requiring the highest level of organizational response at a time of drastic budget cuts as humanitarian and health funding sees its sharpest decline in a decade, the agency said.
“Around a quarter of a billion people are experiencing humanitarian crises that deprive them of security, shelter and access to health care. [while] global defense spending now exceeds $2.5 trillion per year,” Tedros said at the launch in Geneva.
“No charity”
With the requested resources, WHO can support lifesaving care in the world’s most serious emergencies while “building a bridge to peace”, said the lead agency for health response in humanitarian situations, which coordinates more than 1,500 partners in 24 crisis situations around the world, ensuring that national authorities and local partners remain at the center of emergency efforts.
“This is not charity,” the WHO chief said.
“It is a strategic investment in health and safety. Access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities and provides 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 infectious disease outbreaks drive growing demand for emergency health assistance.
WHO emergency response priority areas will include Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
Efforts will also aim to combat the current epidemics of cholera and mpox.
“Forced to make difficult choices”
“Renewed commitments and renewed solidarity are urgently needed to protect and support people living in the most fragile and vulnerable environments,” WHO said.
With funding decreasing, WHO and other humanitarian partners have been “forced to make difficult choices” to prioritize the most critical interventions, the UN agency said, adding that the most effective activities remain, including:
- keep essential health facilities operational
- provide emergency medical supplies and trauma care
- prevent and respond to epidemics
- reestablish routine vaccination
- ensure access to sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health services in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Emergency services reach millions of people
Early and predictable investments enable WHO and its partners to respond immediately when crises arise, reducing deaths and illnesses, limiting outbreaks and preventing health risks from escalating into broader humanitarian and health security emergencies with much higher human and financial costs, the agency said.
In 2025, WHO and partners supported 30 million people funded through its annual emergency appeal. These resources made it possible to:
- provide life-saving vaccination to 5.3 million children
- enable 53 million health consultations
- supporting more than 8,000 healthcare establishments
- facilitate the deployment of 1,370 mobile clinics
Last year, humanitarian funding fell below 2016 levels, leaving WHO and its partners able to reach only a third of the 81 million people initially targeted to receive humanitarian health assistance.
Learn more about WHO’s efforts here.
