The World Well being Organisation chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has admitted they may very well be compelled to put off workers and scale down operations as a consequence of US funding cuts.
Ghebreyesus made this identified whereas addressing member states, in accordance with a transcript of his opening remarks on Tuesday.
“The sudden drop in earnings has left us with a big wage hole and no selection however to scale back the size of our work and workforce,” he stated.
The United Nations well being company has been bracing for the deliberate full withdrawal of the USA, historically its largest donor, come January 2026.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has in the meantime additionally refused to pay agreed membership charges—referred to as assessed contributions—for 2024 and 2025.
It has already frozen nearly all US international assist, together with substantial help to international well being tasks.
“The refusal of the US to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, mixed with reductions in official growth help by another nations, means we face a wage hole for the 2026–27 biennium of between $560 and $650 million,” Ghebreyesus added.
The decrease finish of that spectrum “represents about 25 per cent of workers prices” at current, he stated, though he harassed that “that doesn’t essentially imply a 25 per cent reduce to the variety of positions.”
He continued: “We’re decreasing the senior management staff at headquarters from 12 to seven, and the variety of departments shall be lowered by (greater than) half, from 76 to 34.”
