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The 158th session of the Executive Board took place from 2 to 7 February 2026 at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In the photo, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO. Credit: WHO / Christopher Black
– On February 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its 2026 global appeal to help millions of people living in protracted conflicts and humanitarian crises access life-saving healthcare. Following a trend of sharply declining international funding, the agency warns that it is becoming increasingly difficult to respond to emerging health threats, including pandemics and drug-resistant infections.
According to United Nations (UN) figures, approximately a quarter of a billion people are currently experiencing humanitarian crises that threaten their access to health care and housing, even as global defense spending has surpassed $2.5 trillion a year. Meanwhile, the WHO estimates that approximately 4.6 billion people lack access to essential health services and 2.1 billion face significant financial pressures due to rising health costs.
These disparities are expected to worsen in the coming years, as the world is projected to face a shortage of 11 million healthcare workers by 2030, more than half of whom are nurses. WHO is seeking nearly $1 billion to support civilians in 36 emergencies (14 of which are classified as extremely serious) and aims to protect and support millions of people living in the world’s most fragile crisis situations.
“This appeal is a call to support people living in conflict, displacement and disasters, to provide them not only with services, but also with confidence that the world has not turned its back on them,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “It’s not charity. It’s a strategic investment in health and safety. In fact, access to health care restores dignity, stabilizes communities and offers a path to recovery.”
Since its founding in 1948, WHO has served as a critical lifeline for crisis-affected populations: promoting universal health coverage, coordinating international responses to health emergencies, and tracking emerging health threats and developments around the world. In 2025 alone, WHO and its partners provided emergency health services to approximately 30 million people, vaccinated 5.3 million children, facilitated 53 million health consultations, supported more than 8,000 health centers and deployed 1,370 mobile clinics.
“In today’s most complex emergencies, WHO remains indispensable: protecting health, respecting international humanitarian law and ensuring life-saving care reaches people in places where few can operate,” said Marita Sørheim-Rensvik, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations Office at Geneva. “WHO’s role is vital, from safeguarding access to sexual and reproductive health and rights to supporting frontline health workers who are under immense pressure.”
The 2026 appeal comes after a year in which humanitarian funding fell below 2016 levels, forcing WHO and its partners to reach only a third of the 81 million people originally targeted for health care. Furthermore, this comes after the United States’ departure from the WHO on January 22, which is estimated to reduce the agency’s budget for 2026 and 2027 from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
Ghebreyesus addressed the WHO Executive Board in Geneva on February 2, warning of the far-reaching consequences expected following last year’s deep funding cuts, and described the year 2025 as one of the “most difficult years” in the organization’s history. “Sudden and severe cuts to bilateral aid have also caused enormous disruptions to health systems and services in many countries,” he said.
Ghebreyesus also noted that the agency narrowly avoided a much more severe financial collapse because a number of member states agreed to increase mandatory assessed contributions. This would reduce WHO’s dependence on designated voluntary funding. These reforms have allowed the WHO to mobilize about 85 percent of its core budget for 2026-2027, although Ghebreyesus warned that the remaining gap will be “difficult to mobilize” in the current tense financial environment. It warned that “pockets of poverty” persist in critically underfunded areas, including emergency preparedness, antimicrobial resistance and climate resilience.
Ghebreyesus also warned that the funding crisis has exposed deeper challenges to global health governance, especially among low- and middle-income countries struggling to maintain access to essential services. He stressed that the crisis presents a crucial opportunity for transformation, noting that a “more agile” WHO can focus more on its core mission and mandate within the broader UN reform initiative80. “This means focusing more on our core mandate and comparative advantage, doing what we do best – supporting countries through our regulatory and technical work – and leaving to others what they do best,” he added.
As a result of reduced global funding, the WHO says it and its partners have been “forced to make difficult decisions” about which operations to maintain in the future. The agency stated its intentions to focus only on the most critical, high-impact interventions, such as keeping essential health facilities running, delivering emergency medical supplies and trauma care, restoring immunization efforts, ensuring access to reproductive, maternal and child health services, and preventing and responding to disease outbreaks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with South Sudanese health authorities and partners to step up cholera prevention efforts, including a vaccination campaign. Credit:WHO/South Sudan
“In 2026, WHO will again adapt its emergency response. We are applying the discipline of emergency medicine: focusing first on actions that save lives,” said Ghebreyesus. “We are placing greater emphasis on country leadership and local partnerships. We are focusing on areas where WHO adds the most value and reducing duplication so that every dollar has the maximum impact.”
In 2026, WHO will prioritize its emergency health response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Afghanistan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Myanmar, while addressing current cholera and mox outbreaks. As the lead agency for health coordination in humanitarian crises, WHO works with more than 1,500 partners in 24 emergency situations around the world to ensure that national authorities and local organizations remain at the center of emergency response efforts.
Furthermore, WHO’s future strategy places special emphasis on helping countries reduce their dependence on external aid and develop long-term financial self-sufficiency. A key element of this approach is domestic resource mobilization, including the introduction of higher health taxes on harmful products such as tobacco, sugary drinks and alcohol.
In recent months, WHO has made important progress in strengthening global responses to emerging health threats, even as antimicrobial resistance continues to rise: one in six bacterial infections worldwide is now resistant to antibiotics. The agency has also expanded its disease surveillance capabilities, relying on AI-powered epidemic intelligence tools to help countries detect and contain hundreds of outbreaks before they become major crises. WHO’s work has also been reinforced by last year’s adoption of the Pandemic Agreement and the amendment to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which aim to strengthen global preparedness in the post-COVID-19 era.
“The pandemic taught us all many lessons, especially that global threats demand a global response,” Ghebreyesus said. “Solidarity is the best immunity.” He emphasized that the future effectiveness of the WHO depends on predictable and sustained funding: “This is your WHO. Your strength is your unity. Your future is your choice.”
IPS UN Office Report
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