WHO Appeals for USD1B as 53M Lose Healthcare Access Worldwide

(MENAFN) The World Health Organization (WHO) launched an emergency funding appeal Tuesday seeking $1 billion to combat the globe's deadliest health crises throughout 2026, warning that budget reductions have already shuttered thousands of medical centers and severed healthcare access for millions.

"A quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that strip away the most basic protections: safety, shelter and access to health care," Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a press briefing in Geneva.

He underscored that medical demands are escalating dramatically—whether from traumatic injuries, epidemic outbreaks, severe malnutrition, or unmanaged chronic illnesses—while healthcare availability continues to deteriorate.

Ihekweazu revealed the financial request will target 36 separate emergencies encompassing Gaza and the broader Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Myanmar.

"Already, 2025 was an exceptionally difficult year," he said, adding that "global funding cuts forced 6,700 health facilities in 22 humanitarian settings to either close or reduce services, cutting 53 million people off from health care."

Households now face "impossible decisions, such as whether to buy food or medicine," he said. "People should never have to make these choices."

Throughout the previous year, the WHO activated emergency protocols across 50 crises in 82 nations, providing assistance to more than 30 million individuals, maintaining over 8,000 medical installations, and deploying more than 1,400 mobile clinics.

"Health is priceless," Ihekweazu said. "Today, we again invite the world to invest in health."

The US, historically a leading financial supporter of the WHO, formally exited the organization in January.

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