The 194 nations that govern the World Health Organization took their first tangible steps during the 2023 World Health Assembly to fulfill the commitment they made one year ago to sustainably finance the U.N. agency tasked with the “attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” For a chronically underfunded institution, this is welcome news — and there are some tangible steps that can be taken to maintain progress and fix its financing model once and for all.
The WHA delivered on two key promises: First, it agreed to raise the dues governments pay to a level equivalent to 26% of WHO’s 2022-2023 base budget. If this sounds underwhelming, consider that such fees — dubbed “assessed contributions” — had declined over time to a much smaller fraction of its revenue, making WHO dependent on the less predictable voluntary contributions of a handful of powerful donors. This boost is the first in a series of increases that could see member dues rise to the equivalent of 50% of the 2022-2023 base budget by the decade’s end.
The second promise kept was to permit planning for an “investment round” in 2024, likely to include a replenishment conference. The goal would be to “raise voluntary contributions for the … base segment that is not funded by assessed contributions.” Much debate has centered on whether donors would be permitted to earmark their pledges. These contributions are critical resources and part of the overall strategy of sustainably financing WHO. They are also politically palatable to donors conscious of national priorities and citizen accountability.
About the author
Members of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University responds to the need for innovative solutions to the most pressing global health concerns by bringing together experts from the public health and legal fields. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health creates and leads alliances and public-private partnerships that advance breakthrough biomedical discoveries and improve the quality of people’s lives. Contributing authors are: Kevin A. Klock, senior vice president, chief operating officer, and general counsel at the FNIH and a scholar at the O’Neill Institute; Lawrence O. Gostin, founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown University and faculty director at the O’Neill Institute; Alexandra Finch, associate at the O’Neill Institute; Sarah Wetter, associate at the O’Neill Institute; and Vanessa S. Perlman, assistant general counsel at the FNIH. Klock and Gostin lead the O’Neill Institute/FNIH project on an international instrument for pandemic prevention and preparedness. The FNIH provided funding to the O’Neill Institute for the project. Gostin is the director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. WHO is an intellectual nonfinancial partner to the FNIH-managed GeneConvene Global Collaborative.
