After a recent investment round and with the assumption that member states allow an increase in dues, the WHO is confident it will have more than $2.6 billion in funding, or about 60 percent of the reduced budget goal for 2026–2027, Tedros said. That leaves an anticipated budget gap of $1.7 billion.
“Extremely difficult”
Tedros was determined to keep working to fill that gap and dismissed concerns that even the $4.2 billion budget was a stretch.
“US$ 4.2 billion dollars—or US$ 2.1 billion a year—is not ambitious,” Tedros said, noting that the organization works on the ground in more than 150 countries.
“At current exchange rates, the HUG hospital here in Geneva operates on the same budget—slightly larger than WHO, in fact, Tedros noted. “How can WHO be expected to serve the whole world on the same budget as one hospital in a mid-sized European city? Especially at a time when many countries are facing severe disruptions to health services due to a sudden and sharp drop in official development assistance.”
In a January press release, HUG reported an annual budget of 1.9 billion Swiss francs, which would currently be around US$2.27 billion. For context, the 2024 operating expenses of Mass General Brigham in the US was $20.5 billion.
Tedros went on to list the agency’s top leadership who have survived the cuts, describing it as an “extremely difficult and painful decision for me.” Absent from the list was Irish-born epidemiologist Michael Ryan, who most recently served as executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program and became a prominent global figure amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to WHO staff obtained by the Irish Times, Tedros wrote that Ryan’s “dedication to emergency response has changed how we work, helping us face unprecedented challenges with compassion and effectiveness. … His steady presence has been instrumental during our toughest times, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Also gone is Canadian epidemiologist Bruce Aylward, previously an assistant director-general, who led a joint mission in China in the early days of the pandemic.