WHO to Raise $7 Billion with New Funding Mechanism

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially launched a new funding mechanism aiming to raise billions of dollars in sustainable, predictable, and flexible funds needed to finance its priorities for the period between 2025 and 2028.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization's director-general, stated in Geneva on Sunday that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was falling short of health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Now, it's worse, calling for a radical change in course.

The WHO Secretariat is scheduled to present its work program for the period between 2025 and 2028 to its 194 member states gathered at the World Health Assembly in Geneva this week.

For funding, the organization estimates that it will need $11.1 billion. It believes it will secure over a third, or $4 billion, assuredly, largely due to the expected increase in contributions from member states. 

Therefore, it will attempt to obtain the remaining $7 billion through appeals to a wide range of donors, especially institutions.

Similar to other UN agencies, WHO funding largely consists of funds earmarked for specific projects and comes with several conditions over a usually short timeframe.

The fundamental idea behind the Investment Cycle, the name of this new mechanism, is to raise funds at the start of the work program.

Tedros stated that this approach would allow them to develop long-term plans and hire the people they need to implement those plans with more secure contracts, noting that a large number of organization employees work on short-term contracts.

The WHO director-general chose tobacco as an example to demonstrate that the goal of raising $7 billion can be achieved.

He explained that over the four years of the work program, they are asking for 24 cents for every $100 spent on cigarettes.

This investment cycle falls within the framework of a wide-ranging reform of the organization's financing, which found itself in the spotlight and facing criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic response, but remains active on all fronts and across the globe.

The WHO has begun expanding its donor base and has also established the WHO Foundation to broaden and access new funding sources.

An Investment Cycle Summit is scheduled for November to raise funds.