WHO forced to dismiss staff in the face of reducing American funding – Liberation
The accounts of the World Health Organization are in red. The director general of the WHO said this Tuesday, April 22 that US budget cuts left the accounts of the UN agency in difficulty, forcing it to reduce its operations and to dismiss staff.
“The refusal of the United States to pay its statutory contributions for 2024 and 2025, combined with the reductions in public aid to the development of certain other countries, means that we are faced with a deficit concerning the wage bill For the biennial financial year 2026-2027 between 560 and 650 million dollars ”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to the Member States, according to a transcription of his speech.
The deficit concerning the payroll « Represents around 25 % of staff costs » Currently, he also said, stressing, however, that « This does not necessarily mean a 25 % reduction in the number of positions ».
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has not indicated how many jobs would be deleted, but the most important impact is expected at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. « We start with discounts within management », « even if these are very painful decisions for us », Did he regret, before adding: « We reduce the management team to the headquarters of 12 to 7 members, and the number of departments will drop from 76 to 34, a reduction of more than half. »
The United Nations health agency has been preparing for some time in Total removal of the United Stateshistorically by far his biggest donor, next January.
The administration of the American president Donald Trump, in the meantime, also refused to pay the contributions agreed for 2024 and 2025, while freely freezing all the US foreign aid, including considerable help Health projects worldwide. A number of other countries have also reduced their development aid expenses.
Faced with this situation, the WHO began a reflection on its new organization, which its director general presented to staff and member states on Tuesday.
