The World Health Organization said today it faces drastic cuts to its budget for humanitarian emergencies this year, with the outlook “bleak” for 2026.

During the presidency Donald Trumpthe US, traditionally the world’s top donor, greatly reduced its international aid, and other major donors presented “tight” budgets.

OR Teresa Zakariain charge of the WHO’s humanitarian actions and disaster interventions, said that the UN health agency received this year 40% less funding for humanitarian emergencies around the world in relation to 2024. “It’s a huge” cut, he told reporters during a press conference.

The WHO has identified more than 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and “had to make a very difficult choice to determine who to prioritize and who not to,” he added.

In these difficult circumstances, the WHO says it is focusing on the most needy, in the most difficult places.

As a direct consequence of these cuts, more than 5,600 health centers were forced to reduce its services all over the world and more than 2,000 were forced to suspend their activity.

“This directly limited access to health services for 53 million people” around the world, according to Zakaria. And “the outlook for 2026 is bleak indeed.”

In countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Haiti, “we are already seeing an increase in the maternal mortality rate and the malnutrition rate, and the situation does not stop worsening,” the WHO official explained.

The Director-General of the WHO Tedros Andanom Gebregesous stated that he was very concerned about the consequences in the poorest countries.

However, “many countries are realizing the situation and declaring that a change of mentality is needed”, mobilizing their national resources to finance their own health systems, “including emergency health needs”, however the head of the WHO noted as a positive consequence.