WHO Secures Half Its Target For Funds Amid Dire Geopolitics. More Predictable Financing, But Insufficient
Newsletter Edition #239 [The Files In-Depth]
Hi,
It is a sign of how difficult things are likely to be for global health financing. And a sign of how disinterested some key WHO member states are, in securing the future of the institution.
This is even as multilateralism in global health is at a cusp of a significant change with not only pressures on resources, but also the underlying dynamics in the governance of the field.
In today’s edition, we bring you a quick update on WHO’s Investment Round event that took place at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil this week.
If you find our work valuable, become a paying subscriber. Tracking global health policy-making in Geneva is tough and expensive. Help us in raising important questions, and in keeping an ear to the ground. Readers paying for our work helps us meet our costs.
Our gratitude to our subscribers who ensure we stay in the game!
Until later!
Priti
Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com, Follow us on X: @filesgeneva
I. STORY OF THE WEEK
WHO Secures Half Its Target For Funds Amid Dire Geopolitics. Predictable Financing, But Insufficient
WHO says it has been able to secure commitments up to half of its initial goal of raising US $7.1 billion for its next strategy. Middle income countries have stepped up in their commitments.
WHO has managed to secure funds of up to US$ 3.8 billion for the next four years on the back of pledges from some of its member states, the private sector, foundations and multilateral organizations. This amount also reflects signed funding agreements and expected funding from partnerships, senior officials said last week.
While this amount is half of the goal it set for itself, WHO says, by securing 53% of the US$ 7.1 billion funding needed to implement its strategy for 2025-2028, it has successfully increased predictability as compared to 2020, when WHO had visibility for only 17% of funding required for its previous strategy.
The current Investment Round has been designed to raise funds for WHO’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work, which is estimated to save an additional 40 million lives over the next four years.
This week, WHO’s first Investment Round event at the G20 Leaders’ Summit was lackluster with only a few additional member states pledging support, including Australia, Indonesia and Spain. Some of the biggest developing countries among others, have been conspicuous by no or limited funding. South Africa takes over the G20 Presidency next year is expected to continue supporting WHO’s efforts to improve its financing.
Some see the G20 as a lost opportunity for WHO financing. “I would have played this differently. Why is there limited engagement from the biggest emerging economies? They just talk about multilateralism without wanting to pay for it,” a developed country diplomat said.
Analysis from health financing experts show, that as per currently available information, no pledges were made from the Americas region. (The African and the Western Pacific region has had the highest participation in the Investment Round.)
G20 Leaders' Summit was chaired by the President of Brazil, H.E. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration said: “We reiterate the central coordinating role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the global health architecture, supported by adequate, predictable, transparent, flexible and sustainable financing. We support the conducting of the WHO Investment Round as an additional measure for financing WHO activities.” He also said at the event, "While the WHO receives $2 billion a year to try to solve health problems around the world, we have a budget of $2.4 trillion just for war. To destroy lives and the infrastructure that took years to build, rich countries invest much more than they do to save lives."
President of South Africa H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, who will Chair the G20 Presidency in 2025, said: “We are proud to carry the baton on from Brazil and continue to spotlight the importance of WHO and the need for sustainable financing towards the goal of health for all.”
President of France, Emmanuel Macron, said: “The World Health Organization deserves our support, as our unique common, universal, compass to global health. It is the only organization technically and politically able to coordinate our global action, and edict universal norms and advice in the field of health. As part of this Investment Round, WHO is bringing to life a new Academy, open to all health practitioners around the world, to tackle one of the key investment priorities identified during the COVID crisis, which is human capacity in the health sector. In a nutshell, investing in WHO is investing in the strengthening of our response capacity to health crises and in particular to pandemics.” Geneva-based sources say that France is expected to make an announcement for a pledge later in the year in line with the domestic budgetary cycle.
On November 18th, the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Over the past seven years, WHO has undergone a radical transformation to ensure we do that work as well as we can. Seven years ago, we started 51 initiatives. To support countries to achieve the health-related SDGs, we developed a new strategy based on outcomes and impact. We invested, rightly, in science, data and digital technology, believing that digital technology is the future of health care. To do that, we rely on predictable, flexible funding from a broad range of donors. The WHO Investment Round aims to mobilise US$7 billion to implement WHO’s ambitious plan to save 40 million lives over the next four years. I thank those who have pledged so far: the 18 Member States of the African Union, China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Türkiye and the European Union. And today Spain. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank his Excellency President Lula for hosting the WHO Investment Round.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Geneva Health Files to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.