$1.5b needed to tackle global health crises: WHO

KABUL (Pajhwok): The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for $ 1.5 billion for its 2025 Health Emergency Appeal (HEA), to support life-saving health interventions worldwide, according to a statement on Friday.

“Conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters and other health emergencies are no longer isolated or occasional – they are relentless, overlapping and intensifying,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

He said an estimated 166 million people would require health assistance around the world this year, including in the occupied Palestinian territories, Ukraine, Haiti and Sudan.

The health emergency requiring the most is taking place in the occupied Palestinian Territories - and Gaza in particular - where Israeli forces have carried out a relentless assault against the enclave in response to a deadly rampage by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

WHO said it required $219 million to meet critical needs there for a period of three to six months, depending on the evolution of the conflict.

The other two global health emergencies requiring the most funding are COVID and the situation in Afghanistan, where 23.7 million people urgently need access to clean water and sanitation, WHO said.

The resurgence of cholera around the globe, which Tedros said was "especially concerning", requires funding of nearly $50 million, while WHO's health response in Ukraine needs $77 million.

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