WHO Investment Round: Difficult But Defining

Newsletter Edition #235 [The Files In-Depth]

Hi,

Absolutes do us little favour, even when it comes to finances. Looking at numbers merely in red or black might not tell the whole story.

Working on today’s story on WHO financing, I was trying to understand whether the organization’s efforts have succeeded or if it will fail. Looking at such outcomes in absolute terms does not capture the complexity of the situation, although the consequences can be plainly stark not only for WHO, but for global health.

WHO’s efforts to raise funds flexibly in a predictable manner, has not got off to a flying start. But this was to be expected given the overall turbulent weather in politics and financing. In fact, if anything, what we are witnessing is the perfect storm: competing “replenishments” for bigger global agencies, waning budgets for Official Development Assistance, swelling bilateral aid links, and the likes. But what we can see so far is that the smallest of WHO member states, among others, have voted with their feet, in an effort to secure the last standing multilateral forum for global health decision-making. This, of course raises the question of where are the bigger countries, and why the stinginess, as one commentator put it.

In today’s edition we take a close look at the upcoming WHO Investment Round that will culminate in a few weeks in Brazil at the G20 meeting.

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Until later!

Priti

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Illustration Credit: Amy Clarke, Chembe Collaborative

I. STORY OF THE WEEK

WHO Investment Round: Difficult But Defining

The WHO Investment Round event in Brazil is less than three weeks away. So far WHO has been able to garner US $ 1.1 billion as on October 2024. Although far from the initial goal of US $7 billion, these funds pledged so far are mostly flexible in nature marking a significant change in the way the WHO will be funded in the short to medium term.

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This was never going to be easy, but the efforts to garner “undictated” resources for WHO could be one of the defining changes for the 76-year-old institution.  

WHO will not meet its target to raise funds to bridge a gap of US $ 7 billion that it needs for a period for four years between 2025-2028, sources close to the process in Geneva say. We reported in May, that WHO is hoping to raise USD $ 4 billion culminating in the Investment Round, a pledging ceremony on the sidelines of the G20 in November this year, hosted by Brazil.

This looks increasingly difficult for a variety of factors including competing replenishment cycles of other global health agencies, among others. So far it has managed to raise around $1.1 billion as of end of October 2024.

However purely looking at numbers belies a far important development. Significantly, the funds pledged so far are more flexible in nature and will give the organization greater predictability in planning and executing its operations. And not only, of the more than 63 pledges so far, more than half are from first-time voluntary contributors, including many from the African, Western Pacific and Southeast Asian regions. (First-ever voluntary contributions have been announced including by Cook Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.)

New donor country is defined as a country that pledges voluntary contributions above their assessed contribution, sources explained. Donors include Member States, non-state actors, foundations, and private sector entities.

“The picture is complex. It is the case of glass half empty, or half full. I would say it is half full, because unlike before WHO has managed to raise flexible funds. This is significant. Without a dedicated Investment Round, this would not be possible through the traditional approaches of writing letters and persuading countries’ UN missions here”, a Geneva-based financing expert who has worked on this closely with WHO told us recently.

According to WHO, “the funds being sought are not additional resources, but those needed by the organization for its core work, to deliver on its mandate to promote, provide and protect health and well-being for all, especially the most vulnerable.” The Investment Round will fund the 14th General Programme of Work, which was approved by Member States at the World Health Assembly in May 2024. The funds are meant to finance a part of the base segment of WHO’s budget during 2025-2028.

Estimates for the base budget during 2025-2028 is pegged at $ 11.1 billion. (Base budget includes technical base programmes, country strengthening, strengthening accountability, polio transition, and data and innovation. It excludes Polio Eradication, Special Programmes and Emergency Operations and appeals.)

Of the $11.1 billion base budget, a funding gap of $7.1 billion has been estimated, after accounting $4.1 billion for projected assessed contributions (that reflects an increase) and program support costs. The goal has been to meet the funding gap of $7 billion by seeking flexible, unearmarked voluntary contributions from sovereign donors and non-state donors.

Image Credit: Photo by Sara, Pexels