Saudi Arabia used the Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum to turn pledges into concrete health financing, signing a series of agreements with the World Health Organization and other partners aimed at confronting some of the world's most persistent humanitarian health emergencies.
The two-day forum, held on 24-25 February 2025, brought together humanitarian leaders, global health officials and aid partners to focus on survival, health diplomacy, well-being and dignity for people affected by conflict and disaster. It also placed a spotlight on the security of aid workers, a concern that has grown more urgent as violence, displacement and disease outbreaks continue to overlap across the Middle East and beyond.
At the center of the event was a renewed partnership between WHO and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, known as KSrelief. The organizations signed new agreements intended to strengthen malaria prevention and cholera control in Yemen, where years of conflict have devastated health systems and left millions vulnerable to preventable disease. Under the agreements, US$12 million will go toward malaria control and US$2.1 million will be used to expand cholera treatment.
The funding is aimed at diseases that thrive when water systems collapse, health facilities are damaged and access to care becomes unreliable. In Yemen, cholera has repeatedly surged in the wake of conflict and infrastructure breakdown, while malaria remains a major threat in areas where public health services are stretched thin. The new support is designed to help contain outbreaks and keep treatment within reach for communities already living with severe humanitarian strain.
A separate agreement, worth US$3.6 million, was signed between KSrelief and the WHO Egypt Country Office to provide dialysis treatment for Sudanese refugees in Egypt. The arrangement responds to the continuing fallout from the conflict in Sudan, which has displaced millions and pushed many across borders in search of safety and medical care. For refugees with kidney failure, dialysis is not optional or deferrable; it is a life-sustaining treatment that can mean the difference between survival and death.
The forum also served as the stage for a major global immunization commitment. Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its US$500 million pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, first announced in April 2024. Two funding agreements were signed to formalize the contribution: US$300 million to WHO and US$200 million to UNICEF. The money will support efforts to vaccinate 370 million children annually in the global push to eradicate polio.
The commitment comes at a critical moment for eradication efforts, as the virus has reappeared in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Gaza. Public health officials have warned that insecurity, displacement and disrupted vaccination campaigns can quickly reverse years of progress. Saudi Arabia's renewed pledge is intended to help sustain the massive logistics and outreach operation required to keep immunization campaigns moving in the most fragile settings.
The agreements were signed by KSrelief Supervisor-General Abdullah Al Rabeeah and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell also participating in the polio funding signing. The presence of senior leaders from the humanitarian and health sectors underscored the political and operational weight of the commitments, which are meant not only to finance programs but to signal continued international attention to crises that can otherwise fade from the headlines.
The Riyadh forum marked the 10th anniversary of KSrelief, a milestone that Saudi officials used to highlight the kingdom's expanding humanitarian footprint. The event framed health assistance as a central pillar of humanitarian response, linking emergency relief with long-term disease control and refugee care. It also reinforced Saudi Arabia's position as a major donor and convening power in global humanitarian affairs.
For WHO, the agreements represent more than symbolic support. They provide direct financing for interventions in places where health systems have been battered by war and displacement, and where outbreaks can spread rapidly if left unchecked. For KSrelief, the deals extend a decade-long effort to pair emergency aid with targeted health investments that can produce immediate and measurable impact.
The Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum closed with a clear message: in a world of overlapping crises, humanitarian health financing remains essential. The agreements signed in Saudi Arabia are designed to confront disease, displacement and fragility at the same time, offering a reminder that in many crisis zones, the most basic medical services are still the front line of survival.