The US funding cuts have created havoc at the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is being forced to reduce staff numbers and the scale of its work as it slashes its budget by more than one fifth, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the WHO in January was because the global health agency had “mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic and other international health crises”.
America is the health agency’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding.
“The United States’ announcement, combined with recent reductions in official development assistance by some countries to fund increased defence spending, has made our situation much more acute,” said the WHO memo, signed by Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Faced with an income gap of nearly $600m this year, in February, the WHO’s executive board had initially reduced the proposed budget for 2026-27 from $5.3bn to $4.9bn, according to the note, which added that: “Despite our best efforts, we are at the point where we have no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce.”
The agency will shed jobs at senior leadership level at its Geneva headquarters, though all levels and regions will be affected, the memo added. It will decide on how to prioritise its work and resources by the end of April.
An internal memo from 10 March said the agency had announced a one-year limit on staff contracts, and that staff were working to secure additional funding from countries, private donors and philanthropists.
Reuters article – WHO proposing to cut jobs and slash budget by a fifth, memo shows (Open access)
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