WHO Seeks $28 Million to Address Food Insecurity and Health Crisis in Greater Horn of Africa

Credit: UN News

The World Health Organization is seeking $28 million to support a six-month emergency response to a worsening food insecurity and public health crisis affecting six countries in the Greater Horn of Africa.

The funding is part of WHO’s Strategic Response Plan for August 2026 through January 2027, which aims to prevent avoidable deaths and reduce severe illness linked to food insecurity, acute malnutrition, disease outbreaks, conflict, displacement and climate-related shocks.

The crisis affects Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, with more than 37.8 million people experiencing or projected to experience acute food insecurity. WHO also estimates that more than 4.9 million children will suffer acute malnutrition, including more than 1.5 million who will require treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

WHO said the situation is expected to deteriorate in the coming months as conflict, displacement, recurrent disease outbreaks, economic pressures, declining humanitarian funding and climate hazards continue to converge.

Forecast El Niño conditions between August and October 2026 are expected to increase the likelihood of localized flooding and rainfall variability in parts of the region. WHO warned that these conditions could worsen food insecurity and malnutrition while increasing the risk of water- and vector-borne diseases and disrupting essential health services.

Children under 5, pregnant and breastfeeding women, displaced people and communities living in conflict-affected or hard-to-reach areas are considered among those at greatest risk.

WHO said food insecurity, malnutrition and infectious diseases are reinforcing one another. Acute malnutrition weakens immune systems and increases vulnerability to diseases such as measles, cholera, malaria, diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, while illness can further worsen nutritional conditions.

The agency also identified large-scale displacement, restricted humanitarian access, damage to health infrastructure, disruptions to routine health services and immunization, shortages of medicines and nutrition supplies, and declining humanitarian financing as major factors worsening the crisis.

Under the response plan, WHO will focus on five strategic areas: emergency coordination and leadership; collaborative surveillance and early warning; community protection from epidemic-prone diseases; safe and scalable life-saving care; and advocacy and resource mobilization.

The agency plans to strengthen disease surveillance and early-warning systems, expand community screening for acute malnutrition, support vaccination campaigns and outbreak responses, and deploy mobile health and nutrition teams to underserved and hard-to-reach areas.

WHO will also prioritize measles vaccination and vitamin A supplementation, cholera preparedness, malaria prevention and treatment, detection of dengue and meningitis, infection prevention and control, and public health preparedness for floods, drought and other climate-related hazards.

The plan calls for maintaining essential health services, including maternal and newborn care, routine immunization, treatment of malaria, diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, cholera and measles, trauma care and referral services. Mobile health services will also be used to reach underserved populations.

During the first three months, WHO will prioritize rapid life-saving interventions, including expanded malnutrition screening, mobile health services, disease surveillance, vaccination campaigns, pre-positioning of medicines and emergency supplies, strengthened referral systems and community engagement.

From months three to six, the response will shift toward stabilization and recovery, with greater emphasis on sustaining health and nutrition services, strengthening health worker capacity, improving supply chains, rehabilitating critical health infrastructure where feasible and strengthening preparedness for future shocks.

WHO estimates that the $28 million requirement will include $10 million for essential health and nutrition services, $5.8 million for surveillance, early warning and outbreak response, $5.5 million for emergency supplies and logistics, $4 million for emergency coordination and technical leadership, and $2.7 million for cross-cutting functions including monitoring, community engagement and surge deployments.

WHO said timely and flexible financing will be critical to scaling up life-saving interventions and strengthening preparedness as the region faces multiple and interconnected humanitarian and public health risks.

The agency will work with governments, donors, U.N. agencies and other partners to mobilize the resources needed to implement the response plan and protect the region’s most vulnerable populations.