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Learn more: PMC Disclaimer | PMC Copyright Notice letter Global Health . 2026 Apr 17;22:38. doi: 10.1186/s12992-026-01211-1 Search in PMC Search in PubMed View in NLM Catalog Add to search WHO’s 2026 emergency appeal and global health security Yusuf Hared Abdi Yusuf Hared Abdi 1 Faculty of medicine and Health science, Hormuud University, Mogadishu, Somalia 2 Center for Health Research and Innovation, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia 5 Mogadishu Institute of Health, Mogadishu, Somalia Find articles by Yusuf Hared Abdi 1, 2, 5, ✉ , Sharmake Gaiye Bashir Sharmake Gaiye Bashir 3 Faculty of Health Science, Salaam University, Mogadishu, Somalia Find articles by Sharmake Gaiye Bashir 3 , Walid Abdulkadir Osman Walid Abdulkadir Osman 4 Faculty of Health Science, Mogadishu University, Mogadishu, Somalia Find articles by Walid Abdulkadir Osman 4 , Ahmed Abdinasir Abdulle Ahmed Abdinasir Abdulle 2 Center for Health Research and Innovation, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia Find articles by Ahmed Abdinasir Abdulle 2 Author information Article notes Copyright and License information 1 Faculty of medicine and Health science, Hormuud University, Mogadishu, Somalia 2 Center for Health Research and Innovation, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia 3 Faculty of Health Science, Salaam University, Mogadishu, Somalia 4 Faculty of Health Science, Mogadishu University, Mogadishu, Somalia 5 Mogadishu Institute of Health, Mogadishu, Somalia ✉ Corresponding author. Received 2026 Feb 15; Accepted 2026 Apr 8; Collection date 2026. © The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . PMC Copyright notice PMCID: PMC13091268 PMID: 41998654 Abstract The World Health Organization’s 2026 global appeal seeks nearly US$1 billion to sustain life-saving health interventions amid escalating humanitarian crises. This Letter highlights persistent funding shortfalls affecting fragile and conflict-affected states, including Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, where service suspensions and outbreaks have compounded morbidity and mortality. Despite WHO and partners reaching millions in 2025, financing remains insufficient, jeopardizing maternal and child health, outbreak response, and health system resilience. We argue that predictable, front-loaded financing is critical to support local actors, strengthen health systems, and safeguard global health security. Integrating climate-resilient infrastructure, One Health surveillance, and equity-focused strategies can mitigate preventable deaths and stabilize vulnerable populations. The 2026 appeal represents a strategic investment in global health and security, and by mobilizing front-loaded, flexible support alongside sustained assessed contributions requires urgent international solidarity and collective action. Keywords: WHO emergency appeal, Humanitarian financing, Global health security The World Health Organization’s (WHO) launch of its 2026 global appeal on February 3, 2026, seeking nearly US$1 billion, underscores the urgent imperative to sustain life-saving health interventions amid escalating humanitarian crises [ 1 ]. This appeal targets 36 emergencies, including 14 Grade 3 crises— the highest organizational response level—such as protracted conflicts in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Ukraine, alongside outbreaks of cholera and mpox. In 2025, WHO and partners reached 30 million people, delivering 53 million health consultations, vaccinating 5.3 million children, and supporting over 8,000 facilities and 1,370 mobile clinics, yet funding shortfalls limited coverage to one-third of the 81 million targeted [ 1 ]. Global humanitarian financing has contracted sharply, falling below 2016 levels in 2025, exacerbating health system collapses in crisis settings [ 2 ]. In Somalia, a protracted conflict and drought-affected Grade 3 emergency, funding cuts led to the suspension of services in eight hospitals, funding cuts led to the suspension of services in eight hospitals, 40 primary facilities, and 16 mobile teams across 21 districts, denying care to 350,000 people and contributing to diphtheria outbreaks (1,811 cases, 89 deaths by August 2025) [ 3 – 5 ]. Maternal mortality—one of the world’s highest—persists amid conflict, drought, and displacement affecting 5.9 million people, with the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan only 20% funded [ 6 ]. Similarly, Sudan’s conflict has triggered regional health crises with mass displacement, collapsing infrastructure, and heightened outbreak risks [ 7 ], while Yemen’s prolonged war leaves 19.6 million without basic services, forcing facility closures [ 7 ]. While WHO’s assessed contributions from Member States offer a critical baseline of predictable financing, they currently represent less than one-fifth of WHO’s overall budget and are often insufficient or delayed [ 1 ], constraining the Organization’s ability to rapidly scale operations in acute crises. In contrast, the 2026 health emergency appeal is designed to mobilize front-loaded resources that can be disbursed within weeks rather than months, enabling WHO and partners to pre-position supplies, preserve surge capacity and sustain life-saving services in high-risk settings such as Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Early and flexible appeal funding can bridge the gap between slow or partial fulfilment of statutory contributions and the urgent, time-bound nature of humanitarian health needs, reducing the risk of service suspensions, preventable outbreaks and costly late-stage responses [ 8 – 10 ]. Calls for Member States to honour and increase their assessed contributions remain essential to correcting WHO’s structural underfunding and dependence on tightly earmarked voluntary funds. However, assessed contributions alone cannot provide the rapid, context-specific surge financing needed to manage Grade 3 emergencies and compounding shocks from conflict and climate events. Supporting the 2026 emergency appeal therefore complements efforts to strengthen the core budget: it channels additional, ideally unearmarked or softly earmarked resources, meaning flexible voluntary funds that are restricted only to broad priorities rather than individual projects, into the most under-served and crisis-affected settings, where delays in funding translate directly into excess mortality and heightened regional health security risks [ 10 – 12 ]. These converging crises—driven by climate change, protracted conflicts, and infectious threats—are overwhelming fragile health systems while donor fatigue and geopolitical shifts erode support. In this context, WHO’s coordination of more than 1,500 partners across 24 emergency settings remains indispensable for delivering trauma care, outbreak response, immunization, and reproductive health services. As Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has emphasized, fully financing the 2026 health emergency appeal is a strategic investment in global health security that helps restore dignity and stabilize communities on the path to recovery [ 13 ]. Prior appeals demonstrate impact: early funding averts escalation, containing outbreaks and reducing long-term costs, as evidenced in evaluations of WHO’s Grade 3 responses like Cyclone Idai [ 14 ]. Yet, persistent gaps—over 5,600 facilities curtailing services, affecting 53 million—signal dire underfunding at 40% below 2024 levels [ 13 ]. Renewed commitments, including unearmarked funds like Ireland’s Contingency Fund contributions, are vital for flexibility in the most severely affected, high-risk settings [ 13 ]. Policymakers and donors must prioritize front-loaded, predictable financing in tandem with meeting and increasing assessed contributions, to bridge the persistent gap between humanitarian health needs and available financing, and to empower local actors and national authorities at the response core [ 15 ]. In Somalia and other fragile, conflict-affected, and climate-vulnerable settings, integrating climate-resilient infrastructure, One Health surveillance, and equity-focused strategies can fortify health systems. Absent such solidarity, preventable deaths will mount, undermining global health security. The 2026 appeal demands collective action to affirm that no crisis is forsaken. Author contributions Y.H.A and A.A.A: Conceptualization, literature review and drafting the manuscript. A.W.B and S.G.B: literature review, and final manuscript editing. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Funding None. Data availability Not applicable. All information used is derived from publicly available sources cited in the manuscript. Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable. This manuscript is an editorial/commentary and does not involve human participants or identifiable personal data. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Footnotes Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. References 1. WHO launches 2026 appeal to help millions of people in health emergencies and crisis settings. 2026. https://www.who.int/news/item/03-02-2026-who-launches-2026-appeal-to-help-millions-of-people-in-health-emergencies-and-crisis-settings (accessed February 6, 2026). 2. What new funding data tells us about donor decisions in 2025. 2025. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2025/04/17/what-new-funding-data-tells-us-about-donor-decisions-2025 (accessed February 6, 2026). 3. Hussein SA, Osman MM, Hassan MM, Hassan YSA, Hussein AA, Adem R, et al. Diphtheria outbreak in Somalia: a weekly sitrep on the recent health crisis-2025. Trop Med Health. 2025;53:167. 10.1186/S41182-025-00843-0 [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] 4. Yusuf AM, Siad AS, Otorkpa OJ. Cholera Crisis in Somalia: A Call for Comprehensive and Sustained Global Intervention. Int J Gen Med. 2025;18:4495–9. 10.2147/ijgm.s519920. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] 5. Somalia MH, Update. July 2025 - Somalia | ReliefWeb 2025. https://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/somalia-monthly-humanitarian-update-july-2025 (accessed February 6, 2026). 6. Somalia Humanitarian crisis. projected to worsen with 4 million people at risk of hunger, Federal Government and UN warn | United Nations in Somalia 2025. https://somalia.un.org/en/302303-somalia-humanitarian-crisis-projected-worsen-4-million-people-risk-hunger-federal-government (accessed February 6, 2026). 7. Sudan conflict triggers regional health crisis, warns WHO | UN News 27AD. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163731 (accessed February 6, 2026). 8. WHO. Assessed contributions n.d. https://www.who.int/about/funding/assessed-contributions (accessed February 25, 2026). 9. International Humanitarian Financing. Review and Comparative Assessment of Instruments 2017. https://humanitarianoutcomes.org/sites/default/files/publications/humanitarian_financing_review_2017.pdf (accessed February 25, 2026). 10. To earmark or not to earmark? A case study on the importance of unearmarked funding for emergency operations - World | ReliefWeb. 2018. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/earmark-or-not-earmark-case-study-importance-unearmarked-funding-emergency-operations (accessed February 25, 2026). 11. M’ikanatha NM, Welliver DP. Strengthening the WHO in the pandemic era by removing a persistent structural defect in financing. Global Health. 2021;17:142. 10.1186/s12992-021-00780-7. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] 12. Gostin LO, Klock KA, Clark H, Diop FZ, Jayasuriya D, Mahmood J, et al. Financing the future of WHO. Lancet. 2022;399:1445. 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00533-5. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] 13. Elhawary S. Humanitarian reform in 2025: why this time has to be different. Disasters. 2025;49:e70008. 10.1111/disa.70008. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ] 14. WHO says funding. dire for health emergencies in 2026 2024. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/who-says-funding-dire-for-health-emergencies-in-2026/124774552 (accessed February 6, 2026). 15. Humanitarian. accessed February 6, and emergencies evaluations n.d. https://www.who.int/about/evaluation/corporate-evaluations/humanitarian-emergencies-evaluations (2026). Associated Data This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article. Data Availability Statement Not applicable. All information used is derived from publicly available sources cited in the manuscript. 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