The World Health Organization (WHO) is a global health organization that works to combat health crises around the world. One of their monthly publications is the WHO’s Operational Update on Health Emergencies, which highlights their strategic, evidence-based, and science-driven support in collaboration with countries to provide rapid response while also strengthening resilience to future health threats.
As of May 15, 2024, WHO is actively responding to 41 graded emergencies worldwide. These emergencies include 8 Grade-3 emergencies, 7 protracted Grade-3 emergencies, 11 Grade-2 emergencies, 11 protracted Grade-2 emergencies, and 4 Grade-1 emergencies. A graded emergency is defined as an acute public health event or emergency that requires either a moderate response (Grade-2) or a major/maximal response (Grade-3). Emergencies that persist for more than six months may transition to protracted emergencies. WHO regularly updates these figures based on input from its three-level system.
In 2024, WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) released US$23.9 million to support 23 health emergencies. The largest allocations were directed towards the Dengue Global Outbreak, hostilities in Israel/occupied Palestinian territories, and the Humanitarian Response in Northern Ethiopia.
The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) has facilitated 27 deployments in 2024, with the highest number of deployments being in response to the escalation of violence in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories (11), the Greater Horn of Africa Drought and Food Insecurity (5), and the cholera outbreak in Zambia (3).
OpenWHO.org has seen significant engagement with a total of 8.6 million enrollments in 276 online public health courses, offered in 72 languages. In
