“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,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, during a press briefing in Geneva, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
He stressed that health needs are rising sharply due to injuries, disease outbreaks, malnutrition and untreated chronic illnesses, while access to health services is steadily shrinking.
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According to Ihekweazu, the funding appeal is intended to support responses in 36 crisis settings, including Gaza and the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, and Myanmar.
“Already, 2025 was an exceptionally difficult year,” he said, noting that global funding reductions forced 6,700 health facilities across 22 humanitarian settings to close or scale back services, cutting an estimated 53 million people off from health care.
As a result, families are increasingly facing what Ihekweazu described as “impossible decisions,” such as choosing between buying food or medicine. “People should never have to make these choices,” he said.
Last year, the WHO responded to 50 health emergencies in 82 countries, reaching more than 30 million people, supporting over 8,000 health facilities and deploying more than 1,400 mobile clinics.
“Health is priceless,” Ihekweazu said. “Today, we again invite the world to invest in health.”
The United States, one of the WHO’s largest donors, officially withdrew from the organization in January.
