The financial contributions of U.S to World Health Organization (WHO) have fallen by 25% during the pandemic coronavirus, according to provisional data, and Washington’s future support for the United Nations agency is being reviewed.
The large drop in funding compared to the previous biennium is due to the cuts decided by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, which reveal for the first time the magnitude of the withdrawal of the Trump Administration as far as the UN body is concerned.
US funds will rise again in the WHO’s next biennial budget after new pledges in December, which include $280 million from the administration of President Joe Biden. However, the Biden administration has also raised questions about Washington’s future support for the world organization.
The UN agency had $200 million less from the United States in 2020 and 2021, according to provisional WHO data collected in a budget document analyzed by Reuters that has not yet been made public, although it managed to raise more funds from others. donors who made it possible to increase its total budget.
Washington paid $672 million to the WHO for its latest biennial budget, down from $893 million for 2018-2019, according to provisional data.
In this way, the United States has ceased to be the main donor to the WHO, and Germany has gradually replaced it through transfers of more than US $ 1,000 million in the last two years.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A WHO spokesman did not immediately provide an official comment.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the third largest donor to the WHO, with $584 million in 2020-2021, much of it earmarked for a global program to eradicate polio. The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the last two years, US funds fell especially in 2020 – Trump’s last full year in the White House – in a context of a sharp decline in so-called voluntary contributions.
Funding doubled in 2021, when Biden took office, but the increase was not enough to fully reset the level of US funding compared to previous periods.
Trump cut funding and moved to withdraw the United States from the WHO, accusing it of being too close to China and mismanaging the first phase of the pandemic, charges the WHO has rejected.
The Biden administration has returned the WHO to Washington and has pledged to restore funding, but has also expressed doubts about the WHO’s ability to deal with new challenges, including from China.
Inflexible financing
Some of the US financial contributions were delayed by the WHO until next year. However, even taking this into account, the drop in US funds was still 20%, according to WHO data.
About one-third of the US funds were from mandatory membership dues, which were flat compared to previous years, at around $230 million per biennium.
The WHO considers this to be the best funding because it allows greater flexibility in spending and allows the agency to channel money where it is most needed.
However, most of the funding went to areas selected by the US Government.
This development is part of a general trend, with WHO in total receiving just under 20% of its funding in recent years from these unconditional mandatory contributions.
The WHO document showed that one of the underfunded areas as of December 21 was the preparation of countries for health emergencies, such as the current pandemic, which is only 73% covered.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Tuesday that the current funding structure is restrictive.
“The problem remains that everything we’ve done is mostly (with) an allocated budget, so it’s not really flexible enough,” he told the WHO Executive Board during a public debate, stating that the current funding model it was unsustainable.
The United States opposes a plan to increase mandatory fees, or assessed contributions, to 50% of the WHO budget in the coming years.
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