Middle East conflict, funding cuts push 30.4 million into humanitarian crisis — WHO

… 27 attacks on health care recorded in one month

… Appeals for $6.42m to sustain lifesaving health services in Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti

By Chioma Obinna

The World Health Organization, WHO, has raised fresh alarm over a worsening humanitarian and public health crisis across the Eastern Mediterranean Region, warning that renewed conflict, disease outbreaks, food insecurity and severe funding shortages are pushing millions deeper into emergency conditions.

In its latest Health Emergencies Situation Report, WHO said Sudan remains the region’s largest humanitarian emergency, with 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 13.5 million displaced, multiple disease outbreaks and dwindling resources threatening the collapse of essential health services.

The UN health agency also warned that renewed hostilities in the Middle East have reversed recent signs of de-escalation, heightening risks to civilians, disrupting humanitarian operations and placing additional pressure on already fragile health systems.

WHO said renewed strikes in the Islamic Republic of Iran and parts of the Gulf, attacks on commercial shipping and disruptions along the Strait of Hormuz have increased threats to medical supply chains and the delivery of lifesaving healthcare.

The report further revealed that more than 37.8 million people across the Greater Horn of Africa are facing, or are projected to face, acute food insecurity, with nearly 26 million people in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti among those hardest hit.

Describing the situation as increasingly critical, WHO appealed for 6.42 million dollars to sustain emergency health and nutrition interventions in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti over the next six months.

The funding, it said, will support primary healthcare, lifesaving nutrition services, disease surveillance, outbreak response, community engagement and the pre-positioning of essential medicines and medical supplies.

WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean said humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate across several conflict-affected countries, including the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon, where insecurity, repeated displacement, disease outbreaks and climate-related disasters continue to overwhelm health services.

The organisation warned that funding shortages are already forcing the closure or reduction of health services in several countries.

According to the report, more than 260 health facilities in Somalia have either shut down or drastically reduced operations, cutting access to healthcare for 1.62 million people.

Similarly, in Yemen, severe funding constraints have left an estimated 8.4 million people across 141 districts with reduced access to essential health services.

WHO also disclosed that its 2026 Health Emergencies Appeal for the Eastern Mediterranean Region requires 633 million dollars, but about 40 per cent remains unfunded, threatening emergency response operations across both acute and protracted crises.

The report highlighted growing concerns over attacks on healthcare, documenting 27 attacks on health facilities during June alone, resulting in 10 deaths and 75 injuries.

Lebanon recorded the highest number with 21 attacks, followed by the occupied Palestinian territory with five attacks and Sudan with one.

WHO noted that from January to June 2026, it documented 369 attacks on healthcare facilities across the region, almost half of all attacks reported globally during the period.

The attacks claimed 761 lives and left 1,084 people injured, representing 85 per cent of reported global deaths linked to attacks on healthcare and 77 per cent of injuries.

WHO stressed that violence against healthcare workers and facilities continues to deprive millions of access to lifesaving services while weakening already fragile health systems.

The agency also warned of heightened disease threats across the region, including cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, measles, dengue, malaria, hepatitis E, meningitis and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.

Although no case of Bundibugyo virus disease, a form of Ebola, has been reported within the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO said fragile health systems, population movements and surveillance gaps have increased the risk of cross-border transmission.

As a result, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti have been designated as priority countries for intensified preparedness, while additional readiness measures are being implemented in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Egypt and Morocco because of their roles as major travel and transit hubs.

WHO said it has strengthened surveillance, laboratory readiness, rapid response capacity, infection prevention and community engagement across high-risk countries while pre-positioning viral haemorrhagic fever supplies and emergency medical kits.

The organisation said it continues to support countries across the region with emergency medical supplies, outbreak response, nutrition programmes, mental health services, health worker training and restoration of essential health services despite mounting operational challenges.

WHO identified four immediate priorities, strengthening emergency preparedness, expanding integrated health and nutrition services, enhancing disease surveillance and outbreak response, and sustaining essential health services, including maternal, child and trauma care, in conflict-affected and disaster-hit communities.

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