Health & Pandemics

The global water crisis remains a severe, long-running humanitarian and economic emergency. The most widely cited current estimates show about 2.1 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water and 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation, while around 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. UN-Water also reports that water scarcity is increasing on every continent, with poorer communities most affected, and that roughly 720 million people lived in countries with high or critical water stress in 2021. Recent analysis continues to show the crisis is worsening in many regions because climate change, drought, groundwater depletion, glacier loss, and weak water infrastructure are reducing reliable supply. The Bank for International Settlements says water scarcity can lower real GDP growth and investment and raise inflation, while UN-Water cites annual drought costs exceeding $307 billion. A BC Center for Corporate Citizenship summary notes that nearly 40% of global land now experiences increasingly frequent and severe droughts, underscoring the growing exposure of food systems, energy production, and public health. Affected regions include arid and drought-prone areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, parts of China, Central Asia, the Mediterranean, and drought-exposed regions of North and South America and Oceania. The crisis is global, but impacts are worst where demand is rising fastest and governance, infrastructure, and investment lag behind need.

Afghanistan’s healthcare system continued its sharp deterioration through 2025, driven by major donor aid cuts and Taliban restrictions, resulting in the closure of 422 health facilities by year-end and cutting off primary care to 3 million people. Earlier in March 2025, WHO reported 167 facilities closed as of March 4, affecting 1.6 million across 25 provinces, with 80% of WHO-supported facilities at risk of shutdown by June, potentially impacting an additional 1.8 million; northern, western, and northeastern regions saw over a third of centers shut. Outbreaks escalated with over 16,000 suspected measles cases and 111 deaths in early 2025, amid critically low immunization (51% first measles dose, 37% second), alongside malaria, dengue, polio, and Crimean-Congo fever; mental health crises affected half the population, with 2 million seeking treatment in 2025. Humanitarian needs surged to 22-23.7 million people requiring aid in 2025, disproportionately impacting women and girls due to Taliban bans on education, employment, and movement, exacerbating workforce shortages and access barriers. Over 300 nutrition points closed, leaving 1.1 million children without services and 1.7 million at risk of death; funding covered only 31% of UN plans by late 2024, with further shortfalls stretching responses. Record 2.6 million refugee returns in 2025 overwhelmed fragile systems.

Malaria remains a severe global health emergency. According to WHO’s World Malaria Report 2025, the world recorded an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610,000 deaths in 2024, up from 263 million cases and 597,000 deaths in 2023, meaning the disease remained on an upward trajectory last year. WHO also says 80 malaria-endemic countries were assessed in the report, and 47 countries plus one territory have now been certified malaria-free. The burden remains overwhelmingly concentrated in Africa: WHO says the African Region continues to account for about 95% of malaria deaths, and 11 countries account for about two-thirds of global cases and deaths. WHO’s report also warns that antimalarial drug resistance is a growing threat, with partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives confirmed or suspected in at least 8 African countries. Recent progress is being undermined by funding shortfalls, drug and insecticide resistance, climate-related disruptions, and conflict-related access barriers in affected regions.

Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and recent UN reporting indicates the situation is worsening in 2026 as food insecurity rises and aid funding declines. In January 2026, the UN said 21 million Yemenis were in need of assistance, while last year’s humanitarian response plan was only 28% funded at $688 million. Humanitarian agencies also warned that more than 18 million people face acute food insecurity, including tens of thousands in famine-like conditions, with women and girls disproportionately affected by reduced services and meal-skipping within households. The crisis is being driven by a decade of conflict, economic collapse, restricted humanitarian access, and continued abuses by warring parties. HRW reported that 19.5 million people needed humanitarian assistance in 2025, up by 1.3 million from 2024, and that US airstrikes between March 15 and May 6, 2025 killed at least 238 civilians and injured at least 467. UN and rights sources also report severe strain on health, nutrition, and protection systems, including more than 450 health facilities closed due to funding cuts, rising child malnutrition, and continuing displacement and detention abuses.

Sudan’s health system remains in a severe state of collapse amid the ongoing conflict that began in April 2023. WHO reported in July 2025 that 38% of health facilities were non-functional and only 14% of hospitals remained operational, with Khartoum’s health infrastructure heavily damaged or repurposed for military use. The UN reported in January 2026 that more than one third of facilities nationwide were still non-functional, while WHO said the conflict had driven the system to the brink of collapse and left millions without access to essential care. The crisis is being compounded by repeated attacks on healthcare, mass displacement, hunger, and disease outbreaks. WHO said it had verified 201 attacks on healthcare since the conflict began, causing 1,858 deaths and 490 injuries; MSF separately reported more than 2,000 deaths and 720 injuries in 213 attacks on health facilities across Sudan, and said Sudan accounted for 82% of global deaths from attacks on healthcare in 2025. The humanitarian situation remains dire: the UN says 33.7 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2026, with more than 20 million needing health assistance and 21 million facing acute food insecurity. Recent reporting also points to ongoing outbreaks and overcrowding in conflict-affected and displaced communities, particularly in Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, Al-Jazira, Sennar, and eastern Sudan.

The Gaza Strip faces an ongoing severe humanitarian crisis amid a fragile ceasefire since 10 October 2025, marked by persistent violence, aid restrictions, and infrastructure devastation. Airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continue across the Strip, including near the 'Yellow Line,' with the Gaza Ministry of Health reporting 15 killed, 18 bodies retrieved, and 37 injured between 26 February and 5 March 2026; overall post-ceasefire casualties reached at least 574 killed and 1,518 injured by early February, rising further by late February. Over 85% of Gaza's 2.1 million population, or about 1.9 million people, remain internally displaced, with significant concentrations near frontlines, Rafah, and between designated lines; nearly 815,000 movements recorded since ceasefire, including returns north. Aid entry has increased, with over 283,133 pallets offloaded by 5 February 2026 and continued entries like 10,213 pallets between 6-8 January, but crossing closures since late February have suspended medical evacuations, caused fuel and cooking gas shortages, and heightened reliance on assistance; over 18,500 patients, including 4,000 children, await evacuation for unavailable care. Famine conditions have been mitigated as of January 2026 with enough aid for basic food needs, reaching 1.2 million people, though health systems report shortages amid winter diseases; 42% of homes destroyed, rendering northern Gaza largely uninhabitable. Recent escalations include Middle East-wide impacts closing crossings and mounting restrictions, with protection services aiding over 21,500 people weekly; less than 1% of aid intercepted during transit.

Over 1 billion people worldwide are living with mental health disorders, yet systemic failures in treatment access and resource allocation leave the vast majority without adequate care. The crisis is characterized by stark disparities: high-income countries spend up to $65 per person on mental health while low-income countries spend as little as $0.04, resulting in fewer than 10% of people needing mental health care receiving it in low-income nations compared to over 50% in higher-income countries. Women are disproportionately affected, with anxiety and depression being the most prevalent conditions globally, affecting an estimated 42.5 million Americans alone and 322 million people worldwide with depression. Suicide remains a devastating outcome, claiming an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021, making it the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29. Despite global prevention efforts, progress is critically insufficient—the world is on track for only a 12% reduction in suicide mortality by 2030, far below the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of one-third reduction. The crisis is intensified by compounding pressures including COVID-19 pandemic aftereffects, climate change impacts, economic insecurity, and conflict-driven displacement. Healthcare workers themselves face elevated mental health risks, with suicide rates 24% higher than other sectors. Government investment in mental health has stagnated at just 2% of total health budgets since 2017, while the global shortage of mental health workers stands at a median of only 13 per 100,000 people, with extreme shortages in low- and middle-income countries. In the United States, approximately 23-26% of adults experience a mental health condition annually, yet 41% of Americans deal with untreated mental illness. Young adults aged 18-25 report the highest prevalence of serious suicidal thoughts at 12.6%, while LGBTQ+ youth face disproportionate risks, with 39% seriously considering suicide in the past year.

Mpox remains an active public health crisis in Africa, driven mainly by clade I, especially subclade Ib, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) still the epicenter. WHO reported in January 2026 that the recombinant clade Ib/IIb strain had been detected in India and the United Kingdom, underscoring continued international spread linked to the broader ongoing clade I outbreak. CDC reports that since January 2024, more than 53,000 confirmed clade I mpox cases and more than 150 deaths have been reported globally, with the majority still in the DRC and ongoing transmission in Central and Eastern Africa. Recent regional updates indicate the outbreak remains concentrated in the DRC and neighboring countries, including Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Kenya, while Africa CDC and WHO continue response efforts including vaccination, surveillance, laboratory expansion, and cross-border coordination. PAHO reported in April 2026 that clade Ib has now been reported in all regions globally, with community transmission in 15 countries and travel-associated cases in six others, showing that the Africa outbreak continues to seed exportations beyond the continent. A DRC report cited by BEACON noted weekly suspected cases fell from about 2,400 in early 2025 to about 170 by early April 2026, suggesting improvement in the DRC but not full containment.

South Asia continues to face an escalating extreme-heat crisis, with India and Pakistan among the most affected countries. A World Weather Attribution analysis found that a 15-day April heatwave in northwestern India and Pakistan became both hotter and more likely due to human-caused climate change, with the likelihood of such an event increasing by about 15 times and intensity rising by about 1.0°C for a 1-in-5-year event. The analysis also reported at least 37 heat-related deaths in India and 10 in Karachi, Pakistan during the 2026 episode, alongside record electricity demand and agricultural drought conditions affecting over 1 million km². The latest World Meteorological Organization and World Health Organization initiatives underscore that extreme heat is now a major regional health and economic threat. WMO says Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, while the WHO-WMO Climate and Health Joint Programme launched new South Asia efforts in 2026 to improve heat early warning, health risk assessments, and heat action planning. Berkeley Earth also reported that 2025 was exceptionally warm globally, with record annual warmth affecting an estimated 770 million people, concentrated heavily in Asia, including significant populations in China, Pakistan, and Central Asia—reinforcing the broader regional heat trend.

The global cholera crisis continues to escalate in early 2026, with 614,828 cumulative cases and 7,598 deaths reported across 33 countries throughout 2025. From January 1 to February 25, 2026, an additional 28,877 new cases and 401 deaths have been documented worldwide. The Eastern Mediterranean Region and African Region remain the most severely affected, followed by South-East Asia, the Americas, and the Western Pacific, with no cases reported in Europe. The crisis is driven by persistent conflicts, climate-induced flooding, inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, and population displacement. Mortality rates have surged dramatically, with 2025 deaths already exceeding the 2024 total of 6,028 (itself a 50% increase from 2023), signaling deepening systemic vulnerabilities in healthcare access and response capacity. Oral cholera vaccine (OCV) stockpiles remain constrained, with average supplies occasionally exceeding but frequently falling below the 5 million-dose emergency threshold.

Myanmar remains highly vulnerable to measles because conflict and displacement continue to disrupt routine immunization and access to health services. A current outbreak bulletin from WHO notes that Myanmar’s recent measles situation has occurred in the broader context of weak vaccination coverage and population movement, which are major risk factors for transmission in crowded or hard-to-reach communities. Earlier reporting on Myanmar’s national measles efforts also shows the country has relied on large vaccination campaigns to close immunity gaps, underscoring how fragile protection can be when routine services are interrupted. The main humanitarian concern is for children in conflict-affected and displaced populations, where missed vaccines, malnutrition, and delayed treatment can increase the risk of severe disease and death. While the search results provided do not include a recent Myanmar-specific case count or death tally, they do show that measles remains a recurring regional threat in Asia and that outbreaks are especially dangerous where immunity gaps persist. WHO continues to emphasize high coverage with two doses of measles-containing vaccine and strong surveillance as the key measures needed to prevent sustained spread.

Haiti is facing a cholera resurgence with 2,852 suspected cases, 186 confirmed cases, and 48 deaths recorded between January 1 and October 30, 2025, primarily affecting children under 9 (over a third of cases). The outbreak, linked to the rainy season, is spreading in and around Port-au-Prince, exacerbated by collapsing water and sanitation infrastructure, gang violence displacing over 1.4 million people into overcrowded settlements without clean water, and restricted humanitarian access. This marks a continuation of cholera struggles since the 2010 UN-linked epidemic that killed nearly 10,000, following a three-year absence until 2022. Over 225,000 deportations to Haiti from neighboring countries in 2025 heighten risks in vulnerable communities. While cases declined after an 11-week pause, renewed spread alarms health experts amid worsening insecurity and health system collapse. The crisis compounds Haiti's humanitarian emergency, with threats in displacement camps and high-risk zones like Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and Pétion-Ville. PAHO/WHO supports surveillance, treatment centers, and prevention in 66 IDP sites, but gang control limits aid.