The World Health Organization (WHO) requires US$ 633 million to respond to health emergencies across the Eastern Mediterranean Region in 2026, as the Region continues to face the largest concentration of humanitarian needs worldwide. An additional US$ 56 million is required to sustain WHO’s Regional Health Emergencies Programme, supporting preparedness, readiness, emergency coordination, disease surveillance, and the ability to rapidly scale up health operations as crises evolve.

“The Eastern Mediterranean Region—now carrying the world’s heaviest humanitarian burden—is facing a convergence of crises unlike anywhere else in the world,” said Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “Conflict, displacement, disease outbreaks, climate-shocks, access restrictions, and attacks on health care are compounding one another, leaving millions exposed to preventable illness, injury, and death.”

Close to 115 million people in the Region—nearly half of all people-in-need globally—require humanitarian aid in 2026. Many are among the poorest and most vulnerable populations worldwide, living in fragile and conflict-affected settings with high maternal mortality rates, acute malnutrition among children, and mass population displacement. Many diseases circulating—including cholera, measles, dengue, and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus—are preventable or treatable yet continue to cause avoidable illness and death where health systems have been weakened by years of crisis.