(Geneva) The United States on Tuesday called for greater transparency on the finances of the WHO before it embarks on a major reform of its financing, called for by some to make the organization stronger.
Posted at 11:54 a.m.
Although one of the largest UN agencies, the World Health Organization is constantly seeking funding, while countries’ expectations of it are increasing, especially since the pandemic.
Reform
Wishing to strengthen the organization’s role within the global health architecture, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who will be reappointed for a second term in May, is advocating a crucial reform of its funding.
“The United States is seeking to better understand current funding mechanisms, efficiencies, and how decisions are made before considering an increase in assessed contributions,” said U.S. Representative Loyce Pace of the Department of Health, during a meeting on the subject at the WHO.
Like the United States, some member states “have expressed a strong commitment to improving governance and transparency, particularly with regard to sustainable financing”, she added, citing priority setting in the budget allocations.
Endowed with 5.84 billion dollars for the 2020/2021 biennium (6.1 billion for 2022/2023), the WHO has the budget “of a medium-sized hospital in a developed country”, lamented in the past the Dr Tedros.
During Tuesday’s meeting of the WHO Executive Board, he again called for a strengthening of the budget and demanded, as requested by several experts, that the share of compulsory contributions from Member States represent 50% of the budget of the WHO. organization by 2028-2029.
However, for the moment, they represent only 16%. The rest are voluntary contributions from public and private donors who decide how WHO can use them, complicating the organization’s work.
“I take the good governance of WHO very seriously and see transparency as a sign of a strong organization. A gradual increase in mandatory contributions would be a game-changer and help make us stronger,” Dr.r Tedros.
Transparency and sustainable financing must go hand in hand, he said, however. And to warn: if transparency issues “are seen as a precondition, we will be caught in a vicious circle. »
These discussions come as the WHO Executive Board has recommended the Dr Tedros — the only candidate in the running — for his reappointment as head of the organization. His appointment will be endorsed in May by all the Member States, in a ballot.