World Well being Meeting agrees historic resolution to sustainably finance WHO

Immediately, on the Seventy-fifth World Well being Meeting, Member States agreed to undertake a landmark resolution to enhance the World Well being Group’s financing mannequin.

The choice adopted, in full, the suggestions of a Sustainable Financing Working Group made up of WHO’s Member States, which was arrange in January 2021 and chaired by Björn Kümmel, from Germany.

In one of many key suggestions within the Working Group’s report back to the Well being Meeting, Member States goal a gradual improve of their assessed contributions (membership dues) to signify 50% of WHO’s core finances by the 2030–2031 finances cycle, on the newest. Within the final finances biennium, 2020–2021, assessed contributions represented solely 16% of the accepted programme finances.

The report consists of different suggestions, equivalent to exploring the feasibility of a replenishment mechanism to broaden the financing base. It additionally asks the WHO Secretariat to work with a Member States job group to strengthen WHO’s governance, which is able to make suggestions on transparency, effectivity, accountability and compliance. The duty group’s work will assist be certain that will increase to Member States’ assessed contributions can be accompanied by additional reforms to the way in which the Group operates.

WHO’s present financing mannequin has been recognized by many specialists as posing a threat to the integrity and independence of its work. WHO’s over-reliance on voluntary contributions, with a big proportion earmarked for particular areas of labor, leads to an ongoing misalignment between organizational priorities and the flexibility to finance them. The suggestions right this moment are designed to considerably tackle these shortcomings.

It’s supposed that the gradual improve to assessed contributions will begin with WHO’s 2024–25 finances, with a proposed 20% improve over the assessed contributions within the accepted 2022–23 base finances. The goal is to achieve 50% of WHO’s finances by 2028–2029 if doable, and by 2030–31 on the newest, up from the present 16% in 2020–21. This could imply that by 2028–2029, WHO would see a rise of roughly US$ 600 million a yr within the a part of its earnings that comes from probably the most sustainable and predictable sources.

Extra predictable and sustainable funding for WHO makes financial sense for the Group’s contributors, with its new funding case ‘A Wholesome Return’ exhibiting that each US greenback invested in WHO delivers a return on funding of at the least 35 US {dollars}. Sustainable financing will higher equip WHO to ship extra successfully for all its Member States and their populations, for instance by longer-term programming in international locations and attracting and retaining experience.

WHO Director-Normal Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, “This resolution addresses head-on the decades-long problem WHO has confronted on predictable, versatile and sustainable funding. Delivering on the goal they’ve agreed right this moment will imply our Member States are empowering WHO to satisfy their expectations and really fulfill our mandate because the world’s main international well being authority.” “Approaching the day I’m re-elected, this resolution offers all of us at WHO renewed confidence as we face the long run,” he added.

Björn Kümmel, deputy head of the worldwide well being division at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Well being and chair of WHO’s Working Group on Sustainable Funding, stated, “This resolution is about nothing lower than the long run function of WHO in international well being. Even past that, it’s about what we envisage for the worldwide well being structure: a much less fragmented, higher coordinated, extra environment friendly and really inclusive international well being governance with a basically strengthened WHO at its centre because the enabled main and coordinating authority.”