The World Health Organization (WHO) is on the brink of a historic funding crisis. This shortfall puts its operations in peril and impedes its ability to effectively respond to emerging global health emergencies. The organization has reported that it has a salary budget unfunded by approximately 25 percent over the next two years. This projected shortfall in addition to a nearly $600 million deficit for this year only has thrown health officials into a panic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the WHO, described the current situation as “the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory.” The nonprofit is calling on its supporters to act immediately. This funding crisis will have devastating impacts on health programs across the world.
Funding Shortfalls and Implications
The WHO has experienced an alarming decrease in flexible contributions from all donor types. This drop was exacerbated by the US’s announced withdrawal from the group in January. Before its departure, the U.S. paid almost one-fifth of the WHO’s budget. This withdrawal has greatly exacerbated the financial burden on the organization. Perhaps most egregiously, it now fails to address more systemic issues that have driven the funding crisis.
UNESCO Assistant Director General for Business Operations Raul Thomas told the Post it was too early to say how many positions could be cut from the deficit. He particularly stressed the lack of clarity around what it might mean for staffing. The exact number of potential job losses will be highly variable depending on current staffing levels and where operations are located. In spite of its strong contribution, the uncertain funding environment is a major threat to WHO’s staffing and capacity to function at all.
Urgent Call for Action
WHO officials are making a last-minute and frantic appeal to donor nations and organizations to step up now and come through. They emphasize that without swift financial support, the organization’s ability to respond effectively to global health crises could be severely compromised. Their loss will diminish the organization’s capacity to address looming health threats around the globe. This recent shortcoming might slow efforts to tackle urgent global health challenges.
The funding crisis is not just a fiscal danger. It would fundamentally undercut the major public health efforts needed to prevent COVID-19 and future diseases and respond to health emergencies. The WHO has already issued an emergency appeal for solutions to diminish the effects of this funding gap and return to some normalcy.
Structural Challenges Ahead
The WHO’s present plight is symptomatic of more profound systemic problems within the global health financing architecture. Concerns raised by Tedros Indeed, this is not the first time that long-term sustainability of these funding mechanisms has been called into question. The withdrawal of U.S. funding has underscored the fragility of the current financial umbrella that funds global health initiatives.
The organization has made great efforts to address these obstacles. Its leaders are personally committed to making sure it succeeds at achieving its mission. In turn, they must aggressively pursue renewed support from donors. Most importantly, they stress that purposeful collective action will be key to ensuring a robust response to inevitable future health emergencies.
