The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that US budget cuts were leaving the UN agency's accounts in the red, forcing it to scale back operations and lay off staff.
"The refusal of the United States to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, combined with reductions in official development assistance from some other countries, means that we are facing a shortfall in the wage bill for the 2026-2027 biennium of between $560 million and $650 million," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told member states, according to a transcript of his speech.
The UN health agency has been preparing for some time for the complete withdrawal of the United States, historically by far its largest donor, next January.
Meanwhile, the administration of US President Donald Trump has also refused to pay the agreed contributions for 2024 and 2025, while freezing virtually all US foreign aid, including significant aid for health projects around the world.
A number of other countries have also cut their development aid spending.
Faced with this situation, the WHO has begun to reflect on its new organization, which its Director-General presented to staff and member states on Tuesday.
The deficit in the payroll "represents approximately 25% of personnel costs" currently, he specified, while stressing, however, that "this does not necessarily mean a reduction of 25% in the number of positions."
He did not say how many jobs would be cut, but said the biggest impact was expected at the organization's headquarters in Geneva. "We are starting with reductions in management," he said, "even though these are very painful decisions for us."
"We are reducing the leadership team at headquarters from 12 to seven members, and the number of departments will drop from 76 to 34, a reduction of more than half," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
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