The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) will discuss the reduction of part of their budget in $ 400 million in the light of the movement of President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States, its largest financier of the Government, of WHO , showed a document published on Monday.
The opening of the annual meeting of the UN Executive Board, the general director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the agency’s work and the recent reforms and reiterated a call for Washington to reconsider her exit and enter the dialogue about a major change.
“We would appreciate the suggestions of the United States and all member states, how we can better serve you the people of the world,” he said.
The budget cut will be addressed at the Geneva meeting from February 3 to 11, during which the representatives of the Member State will discuss the financing and work of the agency for the 2026-27 period.
The Executive Board proposes to reduce the Base Programs section of a proposed one from $ 5.3 billion to $ 4.9 billion, according to a document published on Monday.
That is part of the largest budget of $ 7.5 billion by 2026-27 that was originally proposed, including money for the eradication of polyomyelitis and addressing emergencies.
“With the departure of the largest financial taxpayer, the budget could not be ‘businesses as usual’,” says the document.
The United States is the largest government donor in WHO, which contributes around 18 percent of its general financing. The WHO has already taken separately some cost reduction steps after the United States movement.
However, some representatives of the Board also wanted to send a message that WHO would preserve their strategic address despite the challenges, the document adds.
The $ 4.9 billion is approximately the same as the budget of the base program for the previous period, 2024-2025.
Trump moved to get out of WHO on his first day in office two weeks ago. The process will take a year under US law.
On Monday, Tedros also specifically addressed some of Trump’s criticism, even around the management of COVID-19 pandemic and WHO independence.
He said the agency acted quickly at the Covid outbreak, adding that WHO is happy to say not to Member States, where applications go against their mission or science.
