The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that escalating conflict, disease outbreaks, food shortages and dwindling humanitarian funding are worsening the health and humanitarian situation across the Eastern Mediterranean Region, leaving millions in urgent need of assistance.
In its latest Health Emergencies Situation Report, the UN health agency identified Sudan as the region’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 30.4 million people requiring aid and 13.5 million displaced. WHO said disease outbreaks and shrinking resources are pushing the country’s health system closer to collapse.
The agency also expressed concern over renewed fighting in the Middle East, saying recent hostilities have reversed earlier signs of de-escalation, increased risks to civilians and disrupted humanitarian operations. It noted that attacks in the Islamic Republic of Iran, parts of the Gulf, commercial shipping routes and the Strait of Hormuz have affected the movement of medical supplies and lifesaving assistance.
According to the report, more than 37.8 million people across the Greater Horn of Africa are facing, or are expected to face, acute food insecurity. Nearly 26 million of those affected are in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti.
To address the immediate needs, WHO is seeking $6.42 million to fund emergency health and nutrition programmes in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti over the next six months. The funding would support primary healthcare, nutrition services, disease surveillance, outbreak response, community engagement and the distribution of essential medicines.
The organisation said humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate in several conflict-affected areas, including the occupied Palestinian territory, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon, where violence, repeated displacement, disease outbreaks and climate-related disasters are placing enormous pressure on health services.
Funding shortages are already affecting healthcare delivery. WHO reported that more than 260 health facilities in Somalia have either closed or significantly reduced services, limiting healthcare access for about 1.62 million people. In Yemen, funding constraints have reduced access to essential health services for an estimated 8.4 million people across 141 districts.
WHO also disclosed that its 2026 Health Emergencies Appeal for the Eastern Mediterranean Region requires $633 million, but about 40 per cent of that funding has yet to be secured, threatening emergency operations across the region.
The report documented 27 attacks on healthcare facilities in June 2026, resulting in 10 deaths and 75 injuries. Lebanon recorded 21 attacks, followed by the occupied Palestinian territory with five, while Sudan recorded one.
From January to June 2026, WHO recorded 369 attacks on healthcare facilities across the region—nearly half of all such incidents reported globally during the period. These attacks claimed 761 lives and injured 1,084 people, accounting for 85 per cent of global deaths and 77 per cent of injuries linked to attacks on healthcare.
The organisation also warned of continued threats from diseases including cholera, acute watery diarrhoea, measles, dengue, malaria, hepatitis E, meningitis and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
Although no cases of Bundibugyo virus disease, a form of Ebola, have been reported within the region, WHO said weak health systems, population movement and surveillance gaps increase the risk of cross-border transmission.
As a precaution, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti have been designated as priority countries for enhanced preparedness, while additional preventive measures are being strengthened in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Egypt and Morocco because of their importance as regional travel and transit hubs.
WHO said it is continuing to support affected countries through emergency medical supplies, outbreak response, nutrition programmes, mental health services, health worker training and the restoration of essential healthcare. It identified four key priorities: strengthening emergency preparedness, expanding integrated health and nutrition services, improving disease surveillance and outbreak response, and maintaining essential health services, including maternal, child and trauma care, in conflict-affected communities.
