The World Health Organization announced moves to greatly reduce its expenses, following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the group.
The WHO is hoping the Trump administration “will reconsider” its decision given that the United States is one of its top donors.
As a result of Trump’s executive order, the WHO will pause all hiring and “significantly” reduce travel expenditures by making all meetings virtual unless there are outstanding circumstances, according to an email obtained by AFP. In addition, any IT or office replacements will be limited and major contract negotiations will be paused.
The U.S. is the organization’s largest source of funding, giving almost $1.3 billion in 2022-2023. Germany was the next largest contributor, sending the WHO $850 million in the same period.
“This announcement has made our financial situation more acute, and we know it has created significant concern and uncertainty for the WHO workforce,” organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a letter sent to WHO staff Thursday. “We are open to engaging in constructive dialogue to preserve and strengthen the historic relationship between WHO and the USA.”
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier highlighted the current bird flu outbreak in the U.S. as evidence the U.S. must keep a relationship with the organization.
“We did have, actually, individuals contacting us already about the concern that this might now be a problem, as data are not coming forward anymore and may not be shared,” Lindmeier said.
Tedros said the organization must “reduce costs and realize efficiency gains,” though it recently expanded its funding base. “We are reviewing which activities to prioritize with a reduced resource envelope,” he said.
A withdrawal from the WHO will take a year to complete, and American funding will stay in place during that period. Public health experts are concerned a withdrawal from WHO will leave America at a communication disadvantage if there’s another pandemic.
“Public health experts who I’ve spoken to are concerned that we have a world leadership position with this and, if there is, for example, the next pandemic, it would help in terms of communication, to be able to be in communication with everybody around the world,” CBS News chief medical correspondent Jon LaPook said.
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Trump said he withdrew from the WHO because of “the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”
He also said China pays the WHO far less than the U.S. despite its population size advantage. Trump’s statement that China pays less than the U.S. is correct — China was on track to pay the organization $184 million while the U.S. was to pay $706 million.
