WHO grapples with drastic funding cuts for 2026 health emergencies

Geneva: The World Health Organization said Wednesday it was grappling with drastic funding cuts for humanitarian emergencies this year - and the outlook for 2026 was ''really dire''.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States -- traditionally the world's top donor -- has heavily slashed foreign aid, causing havoc across the globe, while other major international aid donors have been tightening their belts.

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Teresa Zakaria, the WHO's humanitarian and disaster action chief, said the UN health agency had received 40 percent less funding for aid emergencies worldwide this year compared to 2024.

"It is huge," she told reporters.

The WHO had identified more than 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and "had to make a very hard choice of actually choosing who to prioritise and who not to".

The organisation is now targeting those most in need, in the toughest places, "with the worst living conditions".

As of September, more than 5,600 health facilities in humanitarian settings had to cut services, while more than 2,000 have suspended operations.

"This has directly reduced access to health services for 53 million people across multiple countries," she said.

- Situation 'only getting worse' -

"The outlook for 2026 is really dire," Zakaria said.

Some scientific publications are predicting the cuts will result in millions of otherwise avoidable deaths.

Zakaria said that in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Haiti, "we're seeing this already: the rise in the rate of maternal mortality, the rate of malnutrition -- and the situation is only getting worse."

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that even more concerning than the cuts suffered by his agency was the dramatic rollback in support to dozens of low-income nations.

"There is a decline in the donations that come to countries, and that's what's worrying us, especially in countries where there is no capacity," he told Thursday's press conference.

Tedros saw some positives in the way countries were adapting to the situation.

"One good news is many countries are waking up now and they're saying we need a mindset shift now," mobilising domestic resources to finance their health systems, "including health emergencies".

Donor support from other countries could then be used "to build capacity".

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