 chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has admitted the organization may be forced to lay off staff and scale down operations due to funding cuts from the United States.){kind=link}
The World Health Organisation (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has admitted the organization may be forced to lay off staff and scale down operations due to funding cuts from the United States.
Ghebreyesus disclosed this while addressing member states, according to a transcript of his opening remarks on Tuesday.
“The sudden drop in income has left us with a large salary gap and no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce,” he said.
The United Nations health agency is preparing for the planned full withdrawal of the United States, traditionally its largest donor, by January 2026.
Additionally, the US under President Donald Trump has refused to pay the agreed membership fees, known as assessed contributions, for 2024 and 2025.
It has also frozen virtually all foreign aid, including significant support to global health projects.
“The refusal of the US to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, combined with reductions in official development assistance by some other countries, means we are facing a salary gap for the 2026–27 biennium of between $560 and $650 million,” Ghebreyesus stated.
He noted that the lower end of that estimate represents about 25 per cent of current staff costs. However, he emphasized that this doesn’t necessarily equate to a 25 per cent reduction in workforce numbers.
“We are reducing the senior leadership team at headquarters from 12 to seven, and the number of departments will be reduced by more than half, from 76 to 34,” he added.