The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that it is facing severe funding shortages for global humanitarian emergencies, calling the outlook for 2026 “really dire.”
WHO’s humanitarian and disaster action chief, Teresa Zakaria, said the U.N. health agency has received 40% less funding for emergency aid this year compared with 2024 – a shortfall she described as “huge.”
The cuts come as the United States, long the world’s leading donor, continues to scale back foreign aid under President Donald Trump, forcing other major contributors to tighten their budgets and leaving millions vulnerable.
Zakaria said WHO had identified more than 300 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance but was now forced to make “very hard choices” about which communities to prioritize.
“We’re literally having to decide who gets help and who doesn’t,” she said, underscoring the scale of the crisis.
