Strait of Hormuz blockade disrupts Medical Supplies and humanitarian aid to war affected Eastern Mediterranean states

While the conflict in the Middle East showed signs of de-escalation, renewed hostilities in July 2026 reversed this trend and significantly increased the risk of wider regional escalation.

Revived strikes in the Islamic Republic of Iran and several Gulf countries, together with attacks on commercial shipping and disruptions to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, increased risks to civilians, medical and humanitarian supply chains, and continuity of essential health services.

In Iran, programme implementation and field support remained constrained by logistical and security challenges, while disruptions to domestic flights and high-risk areas continued to limit access for the World Health Organization (WHO) teams.

In Lebanon, insecurity, repeated population movements and damage to critical infrastructure, particularly in South Lebanon and Nabatiyeh, continued to constrain the humanitarian response.

Sudan remained the Region’s largest humanitarian emergency, with 30.4 million people requiring humanitarian assistance, 13.5 million displaced, multiple concurrent disease outbreaks and severe funding shortfalls threatening continuity of health services.

Across other graded emergencies, humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the occupied Palestinian territory and Somalia, while conflict, funding constraints, disease outbreaks and climate-related hazards continued to strain health systems in Yemen and the Syrian Arab Republic.

The food insecurity and health crisis continued to deteriorate across the Greater Horn of Africa, driven by conflict, climate shocks, displacement, recurrent disease outbreaks and fragile health systems.

More than 37.8 million people are experiencing, or are projected to experience, acute food insecurity across the six affected countries, including nearly 26 million in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti.

Children under five, pregnant and lactating women, displaced populations, refugees and communities in hard-to-reach areas remain among the most vulnerable.

The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is appealing for US$6.42 million to sustain critical health and nutrition interventions in Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti.

The funding will help sustain primary health care and lifesaving nutrition services, strengthen surveillance and early warning, maintain outbreak detection and response capacities, expand nutrition screening and referral pathways, strengthen community engagement, and pre-position essential medicines, diagnostics and therapeutic supplies.

WHO accelerated regional preparedness for Bundibugyo virus disease through strengthened surveillance, rapid response capacity, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene, laboratory preparedness, community engagement and contingency planning.

In Somalia, WHO supported national preparedness planning, readiness assessments and pre-positioning of viral hemorrhagic fever and laboratory supplies.

A multidisciplinary mission to Sudan identified preparedness strengths and critical operational gaps, while additional technical support missions to Somalia and Djibouti are planned for July.

WHO sustained emergency health operations across the Region through country-specific support.

In the occupied Palestinian territory, partners delivered 708,600 health consultations during the first two weeks of June.

In Sudan, WHO supported 13 hospitals, four primary health care facilities and 35 stabilization centers, while strengthening cholera preparedness and response.

In Somalia, WHO trained 144 health workers and 73 community leaders to strengthen surveillance across 50 health facilities, distributed 6 tons of essential medicines and supplies, and pre-positioned 400 pallets of emergency medical commodities.

In Yemen, Health Cluster partners supported 809 health facilities and 116 mobile medical teams, reaching approximately 690,000 people.

In the Syrian Arab Republic, WHO expanded Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS), active case finding and community-based surveillance in flood-affected areas while supporting restoration of essential health services.

In Lebanon, WHO continued supporting hospitals, primary health care centers, emergency referral services and health services for displaced and conflict-affected communities.

At regional level, WHO strengthened emergency preparedness and operational readiness through technical support for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear emergencies, national Emergency Medical Team development, and a global simulation exercise involving more than 600 health emergency experts from 26 countries.

Targeted technical missions to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strengthened all-hazards preparedness, public health intelligence, emergency operations centers, health security, emergency logistics and continuity of essential health services across the Gulf Cooperation Council.