WHO gears up for “Investment Round” amidst tough climate for financing. Up to $4 billion in the pipeline to meet $7.1 billion funding gap over four years

Newsletter Edition #215 [The Files In-Depth]

Hi,

We bring you a quick primer on the upcoming World Health Assembly later this month. In this edition we focus on the new efforts to improve WHO’s finances.

We will be continuing with our reporting on the negotiations on both the amendments to the IHR - a meeting that will take place later this week, and the negotiations on the Pandemic Agreement that resume next week.

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Priti

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Illustration Credit: Amy Clarke, Chembe Collaborative

I. WHA77 PRIMER

WHO gears up for “Investment Round” amidst tough climate for financing. Up to $4 billion in the pipeline to meet $7.1 billion funding gap over four years

By Priti Patnaik

Yukta N contributed to this story

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Despite a tough climate to raise funds, WHO is gearing up for the first-ever Investment Round to sustainably finance its operations in a flexible, predictable manner over the next four years. The Investment Round – the first of its kind for a UN agency, will be officially launched at the World Health Assembly that begins on May 27th. A new investment case will be unveiled on May 28th at the Assembly. Following pledges, including from new donors, the exercise is expected to culminate in a high-level in November 2024.

In a recent briefing to member states, WHO has said that it seeks participation from Heads of States at the G20 leaders’ summit and seeks pledges from broader set of donors including private sector.

Sources familiar with the process also indicated that for this round, DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is also expected to reach out to leaders encouraging pledging commitments for WHO. Efforts are afoot to sell and workshop preparations for the Investment Round at national and regional levels.

A new website on the Investment Round says that this will “secure funding for WHO’s strategy, the 14th General Programme of Work (GPW 14).”

Image Credit: Photo by Lucas Meneses, Pexels