US Joins Approval of Hike in Mandatory Payments to World Health Organization

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva Switzerland, on July 3, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters

The World Health Organization’s demands for more money from members led countries on May 22 to approve a budget that includes an increase in mandatory payments to the United Nations body.

Member states at the World Health Assembly approved a record-high $6.8 billion budget for 2024–25, with a key component being a hike in mandatory payments.

The highest-ever increase in the payments, or membership fees, is 20 percent.

The hike means members will collectively pay $1.1 billion, covering 16 percent of the budget.

U.S. President Joe Biden has backed the WHO, reversing former President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding to the organization.

“The WHO embodies our shared values and remains vitally important to the global struggle for health and well-being. President Biden and the United States are fully committed to the WHO,” U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra told WHO members on Monday.

Adjusted fees are approved every two years by member states.

Mandatory fees from the WHO’s 194 members used to account for the bulk of the agency’s budget. But that portion has shrunk to 16 percent in recent years. The rest of WHO’s funding comes from donations from sources such as philanthropic foundations and businesses.

The United States is one of WHO’s largest donors, accounting for $700 million in 2020–21. That was behind Germany and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

WHO plans on using the money primarily to work on expanding universal health coverage, protecting people from health emergencies, improving support for countries, and helping people “enjoy better health and well-being,” according to budget documents.

Other large priority items are eradicating polio, setting aside money for emergency operations, and unspecified “special programs.”

The 10-day annual assembly in Geneva, which coincides with the WHO’s 75th anniversary, is set to address global health challenges, including possible future pandemics.

The approval of the budget, including the jump in member fees, must be cleared in a final vote of all members at the end of the assembly.

Preliminary Agreement

Members preliminarily agreed to hike fees during the 2022 assembly.

That agreement would eventually take the mandatory payments up enough to cover half of WHO’s budget by 2030–31 at the latest, though the increased funding would be contingent on WHO implementing reforms such as a culture change to prevent sexual abuse and provide more transparency on how funds are utilized.

“It’s our collective expectation that this is twinned with other improvements that happen operationally, administratively at the institution as well,” U.S. envoy to the assembly Loyce Pace told a briefing at the time.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that of 96 reforms, 42 have already been implemented while work on the other 54 is “ongoing.”

Previous efforts to reform the funding model took years and resulted in just a 3 percent increase in 2017.

Tedros Calls for Increase

Before the approval, Tedros called for more money as he hailed how WHO has “reached overall gender parity for staff.”

“To support these efforts. I have squeezed 100 million U.S. dollars from our budget to allocate to country offices and commit to sustain this. But in order to sustain this commitment, we look to member states to approve the 20 percent increase in assessed contributions,” he said.

“We ask you to honor your commitment to increase assessed contributions to enable us to deliver the long-term, predictable programming in countries that will deliver the results we all want to see,” he added later.

WHO describes itself as an agency “that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable—so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health.”

After the approval, U.S. Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Michele J. Sison said future increases would be “contingent upon continued reform progress.”

Central and South American countries also called for the WHO to address what they described as chronic underfunding of their region.

Other Reforms

Tedros also said countries should carry out reforms to prepare for future emergencies.

Speaking several weeks after declaring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros said it was time to advance negotiations on preventing the next pandemic.

“We cannot kick this can down the road,” he said in prepared remarks to the member states, warning that the next pandemic was bound to “come knocking.”

“If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?” he said.

The WHO’s member states are drafting a pandemic treaty that is up for adoption at next year’s assembly.

The legally binding accord would give WHO the ability to dictate policies of countries during a pandemic, critics say. That “would set up a worldwide medical police state under the control of the WHO,” Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, told The Epoch Times.

The WHO and the White House have defended the pact, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken telling Congress in March that the Biden administration “is trying to strengthen the global architecture for dealing with pandemics.”

Reuters contributed to this report.