The World Health Organization is slimming down its senior leadership and cutting the number of departments to nearly half at its headquarters in Geneva, as part of efforts to address its massive funding gap.
In a briefing to member states, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the senior leadership team will be reduced from 12 to seven. WHO departments will also significantly downsize from 76 to 34.
WHO’s new structure will comprise four divisions. Three will focus on its core areas of work: health promotion, disease prevention and control; health systems; and health emergency preparedness and response. All three will be supported by the Office of the Chief Scientist. A fourth division will handle business operations, while the Office of the Director-General will oversee key functions including accountability and external relations. Several iterations of WHO’s new structure have been discussed, but staff members Devex spoke to said this new structure is likely near final.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
