Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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January 28, 2026 Healthcare
In light of a sharp decline in financial revenue, the World Health Organization (WHO) is forced to reassess its operations to prioritize and preserve core programs. Specifically, the WHO has merged several departments, halved its senior management team at headquarters, and nearly halved the number of directors.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced this on Wednesday, speaking at a meeting of the organization's Executive Board Budget Committee. "Over the past 12 months, we have gone through a painful but necessary process of prioritization and reorientation," he noted.
Due to financial shortfalls, the 2026-2027 budget had to be revised several times. According to Ghebreyesus, this process succeeded in maintaining gender balance and regional presence, and the WHO's global team is now "a little younger than before."
He recalled that the reform process began back in 2017–2018, and that it was then that WHO's "excessive dependence on a few donors" was revealed. The organization took a number of measures to address the existing risks.
"We proposed—and the World Health Assembly approved in 2022—a plan to gradually increase assessed contributions to 50 percent of the base budget, up from just 14 percent at that time," the speaker noted. Furthermore, he added, the WHO Foundation was created to expand the donor base.
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Without these measures, the WHO would have been forced to lay off approximately 3,000 employees, according to estimates. Instead, 1,241 people left the organization, of whom 1,162 resigned or were planning to retire.
However, the financial problems are not over. The measures taken have enabled 85 percent of the budget for the current and next years to be met, but finding the remaining 15 percent, according to the head of the organization, will be difficult: the sum amounts to $660 million. Therefore, the WHO chief called on donors to provide the necessary funding.
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