WHO Raises Alarm as Middle East Conflict, Funding Gaps Deepen Humanitarian Emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that escalating violence in the Middle East, worsening food insecurity and major funding shortfalls are driving an unprecedented humanitarian and health emergency across the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

In its latest situation report, WHO said Sudan remains the region’s most severe humanitarian crisis, with 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 13.5 million displaced.

The agency cautioned that disease outbreaks, limited resources and continued insecurity are pushing health systems toward collapse.

WHO also said renewed military activity in the Middle East has disrupted humanitarian operations, with attacks on commercial shipping and instability around the Strait of Hormuz threatening the delivery of medicines and other critical medical supplies.

The report estimated that more than 37.8 million people across the Greater Horn of Africa face acute food insecurity, with almost 26 million in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti among those hardest hit.

To address the crisis, WHO appealed for $6.42 million to fund emergency healthcare and nutrition interventions in the three countries over the next six months.

The organisation warned that humanitarian conditions continue to worsen in the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon, where conflict, repeated displacement, disease outbreaks and climate shocks continue to overwhelm health services.

Funding shortages, WHO said, have already forced many healthcare facilities to scale down or suspend operations.

In Somalia alone, over 260 health facilities have closed or reduced services, affecting 1.62 million people, while in Yemen, 8.4 million people in 141 districts now have limited access to essential healthcare.

WHO further revealed that its 2026 regional emergency appeal requires $633 million, with roughly 40 per cent of the funding gap still unmet.

The report also highlighted growing attacks on healthcare infrastructure, recording 27 attacks during June that resulted in 10 deaths and 75 injuries.

Between January and June, WHO documented 369 attacks on healthcare facilities across the region, leading to 761 deaths and 1,084 injuries.

The agency warned that attacks on health workers and medical facilities continue to deprive millions of lifesaving services while undermining already fragile health systems.

WHO also raised concerns over the spread of infectious diseases, including cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, measles, dengue, malaria, hepatitis E, meningitis and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.

While no Bundibugyo virus disease (Ebola) cases have been reported in the region, WHO said surveillance gaps and increased population movement have heightened the risk of cross-border transmission.

The organisation identified four immediate priorities: strengthening emergency preparedness, expanding integrated health and nutrition services, improving disease surveillance and outbreak response, and sustaining essential healthcare services in conflict-affected communities.

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