Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged, and frequent. We aimed to map hotspot countries and identified key strategic actions for health consequences. A series of complex health consequences are due to drought in EMR, including malnutrition, vector-borne diseases, and water-borne diseases. Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia are “hotspots” due to poor population health status and access to basic sanitation as well as other elements such as food insecurity, displacement and conflicts/political instability. Drought-related health effects in the WHO EMR represent a public health emergency. Strengthening mitigation activities and additional tailored efforts are urgently needed to overcome context-specific gaps and weaknesses, with a specific focus on financing, accountability, and enhanced data availability (Introduction).