What you need to know about WHO’s 2026-2027 budget proposal

Faced with a challenging global health financing landscape and with the loss of funding from the United States — its top donor — the World Health Organization is proposing a smaller program budget for the next two years. The proposed base budget stands at $4.27 billion — 14% lower than the $4.97 billion budget for 2024-2025. Adjusted for inflation, that figure drops to just $3.2 billion in real terms. <iframe title="" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-CKI2g" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/CKI2g/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="469" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); </script> The cuts will affect the entire agency, with Geneva accounting for the largest share of reductions at 23% — although in real terms, its base budget is the second-largest across major WHO offices, after the Africa regional office. The budget for country offices will also be reduced in real terms from $2.44 billion to $2.09 billion. The proposal includes $140 million for WHO’s global technical centers, whose budget was previously subsumed under headquarters. This includes the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in India, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin, Germany, the WHO Academy in Lyon, France, and the WHO health emergencies logistics hub in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. There’s no specific budget detail for the UHC Knowledge Hub in Tokyo, Japan — a collaboration between WHO and the World Bank — which remains under development. A little over 50%, or $78 million of the total budget needed for the centers, is already accounted for, according to the WHO budget document. Almost 40% of the base budget is allocated to member states’ top five priority outcomes, which include: • $280.4 million for strengthening primary health care to achieve universal health coverage. • $570.1 million for improving access to quality services for communicable and noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, and mental health conditions, while addressing antimicrobial resistance. • $199.4 million for applying multisectoral approaches to reduce the major risk factors for communicable diseases, NCDs, violence and injuries, mental health conditions and poor nutrition. • $385 million for addressing gaps in the health and care workforce, tracking health financing against political commitments, and improving access to quality-assured health products. • $257.9 million for strengthening countries’ preparedness, readiness, and resilience for health emergencies. Meanwhile, the baseline budget for WHO’s emergency operations and appeals remains at $1 billion, but with the Eastern Mediterranean region accounting for more than 50% of the share. While the budget for polio eradication is slightly increased from $694.3 million in 2024-2025 to $770.9 million. WHO is banking on a second increase in member states’ assessed contributions — already reduced without the U.S. — at the 78th World Health Assembly this month, along with the finalization of several funding agreements tied to its proposed budget. But even if it’s successful, the agency would still face a $1.6 billion shortfall in its base budget for the next two years. The agency is aware that closing the gap will be tough. “Given the highly constrained financial environment, closing the remaining funding gap for 2026–2027 will likely be more challenging than it has been in previous bienniums,” according to the document.