Officials from the World Health Organization will join donors and diplomats in Geneva this week for the annual assembly, where they will have to deal with the question of how to carry out their mandate, which includes coping with crises like mpox and cholera, without the support of their major funder, the United States of America.
This year – since US President Donald Trump started the year-long process of leaving the WHO with an executive order on his first day in office in January – the main theme is scaling down. “Our goal is to focus on the high-value stuff,” said Daniel Thornton, WHO’s director of coordinated resource mobilization.
Exactly what that “high value stuff” is will be up for discussion. Health officials are saying that WHO’s work in providing guidelines for countries on new vaccines and treatments, for conditions from obesity to HIV, will remain a priority.
As the USA prepares to exit, China is set to become the biggest provider of state fees – one of the WHO’s main streams of funding, alongside donations.
With so much flux taking place, some have suggested that this might be a time for a broader overhaul, while making sure that key projects do not collapse during the intermediate cash crisis. That would mean going to donors with particular interests in those areas, including pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic groups.
For countries like the Philippines that are among the more dependent on the WHO, preparations and contingencies have to be made and planned well in advance, in order to minimize the impact of reduced contributions of an organization that could be hobbled by the potential exit of a major source of funds. Continuity and sustainability has to be assured for any of our public health programs that were led by the WHO, just in case it is affected.*
