The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a $1.5bn emergency appeal to tackle “unprecedented” global health crises.
The 2025 Health Emergency Appeal (HEA) is aimed at providing urgent humanitarian assistance to more than 300 million people affected by 42 ongoing health emergencies. This includes 17 grade three crises, the most severe emergencies requiring the highest level of response.
Climate change, conflict, displacement and disease outbreaks are the four key challenges highlighted in the appeal and are noted to be “responsible for fuelling deeper, longer lasting health crises and putting the world’s most vulnerable at greater risk”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said: “Conflicts, outbreaks, climate-related disasters and other health emergencies are no longer isolated or occasional – they are relentless, overlapping and intensifying.”
WHO’s response in emergencies includes providing essential care and medical supplies, conducting vaccination campaigns, treating malnutrition and supporting maternal and child health, as well as offering mental health support to those impacted by trauma.
Among the grade three emergencies included in the organisation’s 2025 appeal is the global resurgence of cholera. Outbreaks of the severe diarrhoeal disease have been reported in 33 countries since the beginning of 2024, and WHO said it will focus on controlling these effectively and avoiding transmission beyond places where the disease is present in an acute way.
The organisation will also direct efforts to Yemen’s grade three emergencies, with the country experiencing widespread outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, diphtheria, malaria, vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 and acute watery diarrhoea/cholera.
The upsurge of mPox is also included in the HEA, with more that 20,000 cases of the infection confirmed across 80 countries as of 31 October 2024. WHO’s Mpox Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan includes surveillance enhancements, scaled-up diagnostics and research to ensure equitable access to medical countermeasures, including vaccines and antivirals.
“From controlling cholera outbreaks to providing mental health support in conflict zones, WHO’s work extends beyond the immediate care we provide… This appeal is about enabling WHO to save lives, protect the right to health, and provide hope where there is none,” Ghebreyesus said.