The World Health Organization’s member states have agreed to overhaul how they fund the United Nations health agency to give it more money to spend on its own priorities.
The budget revamp is aimed at strengthening the organization and making it more agile when responding to global health crises. The change will also give the WHO a more stable income stream and control over a much bigger portion of the funding flowing through its Geneva headquarters.
Member states currently channel most of their cash into short-term health projects of their own choosing, which fluctuates.
With the change, countries now transition towards giving half their WHO contributions as straightforward membership fees instead, giving the organization more flexibility.
“The pandemic has demonstrated why the world needs WHO, but also why the world needs a stronger, empowered and sustainably financed WHO,” its newly reelected chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The WHO gets its budget from 194 member-states and non-governmental organizations. Nation’s membership fees which are calculated according to wealth and population, account for less than one-fifth of its funding. Most of it comes from ”voluntary contributions” of member states and donors, which go towards outcomes specified by them.
That system gave WHO limited leeway to respond to crises like COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and other urgent health emergencies.
Changing the funding model will help WHO implement its priorities “more effectively and efficiently,” Tedros said, as they don’t waste time scrambling to find money.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses within the WHO, many of which can be addressed by improved funding. Our experience with the pandemic, along with the necessary adjustments, should hopefully our preparedness and response when it comes to health crises which is absolutely necessary since it is something humanity can never be fully eliminate.*
