From Paul McPhun
This year has exposed not only an unprecedented rise in humanitarian need, but also a dangerous erosion of global solidarity. Compassion is waning, political will is hardening and international cooperation is faltering at the very moment it is most needed.
The consequences are brutally visible – Gaza’s decimated hospitals, Sudan’s besieged communities and Rohingya families surviving in overcrowded camps and communities across Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Across these crises, the gap between what is needed and what the world is willing to provide has never been wider or more dangerous. Even the replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria exposes this, with pledges falling far short as medicines run out, health workers go unpaid, and preventable deaths rise.
Without renewed commitments, decades of progress risk unravelling. In this fractured landscape, Asean – and Malaysia in particular – can play a critical role. As a bloc founded on cooperation, stability and mutual support, Asean can help restore the idea that every life has equal value, no matter where it is lived.
At a time when humanitarian action is being politicised, privatised and increasingly militarised, Malaysia can lead Asean as a strong pillar of the bloc, as it has done before, in championing the fundamental principles that protect civilians, preserve human dignity, and ensure equitable access to care.
Gaza: When a ceasefire is not enough
Even with the current ceasefire, the medical and humanitarian needs in Gaza remain overwhelming. Most hospitals are destroyed or severely damaged. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams continue to treat mass casualties, complex surgical cases and children suffering deep psychological trauma.
Children like five-year-old Omar, evacuated to a MSF reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, embody the collapse of Gaza’s health system. Many arrive malnourished, terrified and in need of months of surgery, rehabilitation and psychological support.
Despite the ceasefire, violence persists – Palestinians are shot near the “yellow line” as they attempt to return to their homes. Israeli restrictions continue to severely limit the entry of medical supplies, fuel, shelter equipment and essential materials. A ceasefire without unimpeded humanitarian access offers only partial relief; people remain at extreme risk.
Most concerningly, the humanitarian response is being deliberately restricted at the very moment it is most needed. Aid is being treated as a bargaining chip rather than a lifeline. MSF is calling for unrestricted, needs-based assistance and a clear rejection of any model that militarises aid or conditions it on political objectives.
Sudan: The world’s largest and most ignored humanitarian crisis
Sudan is today the world’s worst and most neglected humanitarian crisis. MSF supports more than 30 health facilities across 10 states, yet the scale of suffering far outstrips the global response. Since April 2023, over 1.7 million people have sought care in our supported clinics, a stark indicator of a health system in freefall.
In Darfur, violence, famine and forced displacement are catastrophic. In Tawila, 75% of newly arrived children under five were acutely malnourished; 25% were severely malnourished, many arriving after months of siege and starvation. In places like Zamzam camp, MSF teams have treated hundreds of people with gunshot wounds, fractures, and injuries sustained during ethnically targeted attacks. Civilians describe being “killed, blocked and hunted down” while fleeing.
Hospitals are routinely attacked. Facilities we support, including Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman and Kas Hospital in Darfur, have been shelled, looted or surrounded by armed groups. The legal protection afforded to medical facilities, and those seeking or providing care, has collapsed.
Rohingya: A crisis Asia can no longer overlook
Across Southeast Asia, the Rohingya crisis remains one of the region’s most neglected emergencies. Nearly a million Rohingya remain in squalid camps in Bangladesh, while thousands more are displaced or transiting through Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Funding cuts have sharply reduced essential services. MSF teams report rising malnutrition, increasing infectious diseases, anaemia, and mounting mental health needs. People who survived genocide now face a worsening humanitarian situation driven not by a lack of compassion from local communities, but by a collapse in international commitment.
With no durable political solution in sight, the region is being forced to manage a crisis the world has chosen to look away from.
Why Asean’s voice matters now
In a time of global fragmentation, Asean and Malaysia can be a stabilising, constructive and principled force.
Asean states have a long history of responding to displacement, hosting refugees, leading peacebuilding efforts, and supporting regional disaster responses. With diplomatic credibility across geopolitical divides, Asean is uniquely positioned within the emerging multipolar world order to champion humanitarian access by calling for unrestricted, unconditional assistance in Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond.
Asean states can reaffirm the core humanitarian principle that aid must be based on need alone, never shaped by military or political interests. Asean states can remind the world that no life is worth less because of where it is lived.
As 2025 ends, the humanitarian landscape is defined by record-level needs and record-low funding commitments. Asean states must mobilise more aid where they can, and importantly, use their political credibility and influence to apply pressure on others to reverse this downward trajectory.
By speaking clearly and collectively, the region can help restore humanity to humanitarian action at a moment when it is disappearing. Millions of people – from children in Gaza to mothers in Sudan and Rohingya families across Southeast Asia – cannot wait for compassion to return. Their very survival depends on it now.
Paul McPhun is the director of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for Asia Pacific, focusing on Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.