The United Nations and its humanitarian partners are appealing for $23 billion to provide lifesaving assistance in 2026 to 87 million people affected by conflict, climate-related disasters, epidemics, earthquakes and widespread crop failures.
The funding request forms the immediate priority of the $33 billion Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2026, launched on Monday. The full plan targets 135 million people across 50 countries.
“This appeal sets out where we need to focus our collective energy first: life by life,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said at the launch.
The updated GHO comes after a year of severe cuts to humanitarian operations and an unprecedented rise in deadly attacks against aid workers. A total of 29 response plans are included in the appeal.
Largest Funding Needs
- Occupied Palestinian Territory: $4.1 billion needed to assist 3 million people.
- Sudan: $2.9 billion required for lifesaving support to 20 million people trapped in the world’s largest displacement crisis, plus another $2 billion for seven million refugees in neighbouring countries.
- Syria: $2.8 billion to support 8.6 million people.
Fletcher noted that last year’s global appeal received just $12 billion—the lowest humanitarian funding in a decade, leaving 25 million fewer people reached compared to the previous year.
“The consequences were immediate,” he said, pointing to rising hunger, collapsing health systems, and worsening crises, “even as famines hit parts of Sudan and Gaza.”
He added that programmes protecting women and girls were cut, hundreds of aid organisations closed, and more than 380 aid workers were killed in 2025, the highest number ever recorded.
“Underfunded and Under Attack”
Describing humanitarian workers as “overstretched, underfunded and under attack,” Fletcher warned that only 20% of UN humanitarian appeals receive funding.
“We drive the ambulance towards the fire on your behalf,” he said. “But we are also now being asked to put the fire out. And there is not enough water in the tank. And we are being shot at.”
Next Steps
Over the next 87 days—“one for each of the million lives we aim to save,” Fletcher said—the UN will present the appeal to member states, urging them to increase funding and strengthen protection for humanitarian workers.
He stressed that countries must hold accountable those responsible for killing aid workers, “and those arming those killing us,” rather than issuing statements of concern.