WHO launches appeal for funding to help record numbers of people affected by complex and interconnected health emergencies

The World Health Organization’s 2023 Health Urgent Appeal today provides $2.54 billion in aid to millions of people at risk of global health emergencies. Compared to 2022, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased by almost a quarter, reaching 339 million.

Today, WHO is responding to an unprecedented number of interconnected health emergencies: climate change-related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan and food insecurity in the Sahel and greater Horn of Africa; War in Ukraine; and the health impacts of conflict in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, and northern Ethiopia—all of these emergencies overlap with health system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and measles, cholera, and other deadly epidemics.

“This unprecedented confluence of crises requires an unprecedented response,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Theodore Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “More people than ever are vulnerable to disease and hunger and need help now. The world cannot look away and hope that these crises will resolve themselves. I urge donors to be generous and support WHO to help save lives, prevent diseases at borders and near borders, and support communities as they rebuild.

The WHO is currently responding to 54 health crises around the world, 11 of which are classified as Category 3, the WHO’s highest level of emergency, requiring a response at all three levels of the organization. As is often the case, the most vulnerable are the most vulnerable.

In the year By 2022, the WHO has provided medicines, other supplies, training for doctors and other health workers, vaccines, intensive disease surveillance, mobile clinics, mental health support, maternal health advice and more. WHO provides cost-effective, high-impact responses that protect health, lives and livelihoods. Every US dollar invested in WHO returns at least US$35 in investment.

WHO responds to health emergencies in close cooperation with Member States, other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and other communities and countries and regions.

The appeal will be launched at an event hosted by WHO Director-General Dr Theodore Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva. It will be from the website. This pageAnd on WHO’s YouTube channel, Twitter, LinkedIn.

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Note to editors:

WHO is responding to health emergencies in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Greater Horn of Africa, northern Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen. The covid-19 pandemic and mpox (monkey disease) outbreaks are Class 3 emergencies. See more about health emergencies.

* A healthy return. An investment case for the World Health Organization for sustainable fundingMay 2022