WHO anticipates losing some 600 staff in Geneva

The World Health Organization anticipates losing 600 staff members at its headquarters in Geneva due to reductions in its budget for 2026-2027, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a letter sent to staff seen by Devex. “With a 21% reduction in the 2026–2027 budget, we are now realigning our structures with our core mandate,” Tedros wrote, outlining WHO’s ongoing restructuring in response to donor funding cuts. “Some activities are being sunset, others are being scaled down, and those most directly linked to our mission are being maintained. At headquarters, based on the final approved structures, we anticipate approximately 600 separations.” WHO has long faced funding challenges, but the U.S. withdrawal announcement and other donor funding reductions have placed the organization in a tight spot. Soon after the U.S. announcement, WHO implemented travel and other expenditure reductions to save costs, and offered early retirement to staff reaching 55 years old. However, these measures were insufficient to offset the budget deficit, leading management to scale down operations and workforce, including slashing leadership and director positions. The organization also cut its 2026-2027 budget ambitions by 21% to $4.2 billion from $5.3 billion. Tedros said in May that the loss of funding from the U.S. and others leaves WHO with a salary gap of more than $500 million for 2026-2027. The restructuring has created considerable anxiety among staff, with some questioning the fairness of the process. In early August, an anonymous letter penned by a “group of WHO staff” and addressed to Tedros made the rounds on social media, doubling down on those concerns, accusing the agency of “a carefully controlled downsizing strategy, shaped with external consultants and executed internally with surgical precision.” In recent weeks, some staff told Devex how chaotic things are as WHO finalizes its restructuring. And some expressed fears that more job cuts may be coming. In December 2024, WHO employed a total of 9,463 staffers globally, and 2,611 of them were at the headquarters in Geneva. When asked how many people WHO will lose overall at its headquarters as part of its cost-saving measures and restructuring, a WHO spokesperson said: “The final organizational structure with the breakdown of abolitions of posts by grade is not yet available, and it will be made available once the HR process is finalized and staff have been informed on the outcome. For now, the closest estimate is 600 separations in Geneva, in addition to the 50% reduction of the leadership team that has already been implemented and communicated.” The 600 figure does not yet include the number of staffers who left WHO, those whose contracts were not renewed, and those who took voluntary early retirements as part of WHO’s cost-saving measures. According to the letter, that led to a 409 reduction in WHO’s global headcount since the start of 2025. Regional offices are also expected to make staff reductions as part of the process, but Tedros said in the letter that “regional offices will provide their figures as their processes advance.” “I do not pretend this is easy. It is painful. But with your dedication and courage, I believe we will emerge as a WHO that is not only leaner, but also stronger, more sustainable, and more independent—so we can keep delivering on our shared mission: health for all,” Tedros wrote in the letter.