Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all Member States here in the room and online, and thank you for joining us once again.
As you all know, this year has been one of the most difficult in WHO’s history, as we navigated a difficult but necessary process of prioritization and realignment, resulting in a significant reduction in our workforce.
We are now nearing the end of this process, so I would like to reflect on where we have been, what we have done, and what lies ahead.
We should have had the Member State briefing a bit earlier, but we wanted to come to you with something significant, so that’s why we chose this time. But I wanted to apologise for not having a Member State briefing earlier.
It’s important that we understand the crisis we have faced this year in its historical context, because it is a crisis that has been long in the making.
Beginning in the 1980s, WHO has become increasingly reliant on voluntary contributions from a handful of traditional donors.
By 2022, voluntary contributions represented 86% of our income, while assessed contributions accounted for only 14%.
As part of the WHO Transformation over the past eight years, we took a series of steps to reduce this major risk to the Organization’s sustainability and independence.
Most significantly, we proposed – and in 2022, you approved – a plan to progressively increase assessed contributions to 50% of the base budget from 14%. This is because of your collaboration, and because you understood it’s very important.
Subsequently, you approved the first increase in 2023, the second increase this year, and a further three increases are scheduled for in May 2027, May 2029, and May 2031.
This has been a significant show of support and confidence in WHO – very historic.
This was a crucial step toward securing the long-term stability and independence of WHO.
In addition, we expanded our donor base by establishing the WHO Foundation and conducting our first Investment Round.
Although these efforts provided some protection from the current financial challenges, they will take time to fully deliver on their potential, and could not insulate us fully.
The announcement by the United States of America of its intention to withdraw from WHO, combined with funding cuts from other countries, left us facing a gap for the 2026-27 biennium of about US$ 500 million.
Even before this year, we were already facing a difficult financial situation which we were taking steps to address, but this year’s cuts made the situation even more acute.
Of course, WHO is not alone. Many other multilateral agencies, within and outside the United Nations system, have also been impacted.
In February, the Executive Board reduced the proposed budget for the 2026-27 biennium from US$ 5.3 billion to US$ 4.9 billion.
But as the outlook for international aid continued to worsen, as you may remember I proposed a further reduction to US$ 4.2 billion, which the World Health Assembly approved last May.
To fit within this reduced budget while protecting WHO’s core work, we undertook a prioritization process to identify the most essential functions, and align our financial and human resources with those functions.
We also implemented a range of cost-saving measures, including reductions in travel and procurement, and we offered voluntary early retirement. Many of these good ideas were proposed by our staff during consultation. Many of them also volunteered to take the early retirement.
And with Member States’ approval, we used the Programme Support Cost Fund to cover indemnities and salary gaps related to technical activities until June 2026 to achieve a sustainable WHO.
The prioritization and realignment exercise led to the development of new, streamlined and aligned structures across the three levels of the Organization.
Each office was then given a financial envelope and asked to define a sustainable structure to fit within that envelope, in line with the outcome of the prioritization.
Each office made recommendations on staff that should be mapped or matched to positions, which were reviewed by the Ad-hoc Review Committees.
We are now almost at the end of the process, with one final step relating to the reassignment process.
Our objective throughout this process has been to safeguard the core functions of the Organization and align our financial and human resources with those functions, while minimizing separations to the greatest degree possible.
If we had not taken this approach, we estimate that we would have had to separate about 2900 colleagues globally.
Instead, we have managed to reduce the number of separations due to abolition of positions to 1282. This has been achieved in two main ways:
First, 1089 staff have left or will be leaving through retirement, voluntary early retirement and “natural attrition” – meaning temporary contracts expiring or people leaving the Organization for other employment opportunities.
Second, about 600 positions have been preserved as a result of the increase in assessed contributions.
I express again my deep gratitude to all staff who have left or are leaving us for their service and dedication, and I wish them every success in the next chapter of their lives and careers.
Over the past few weeks, the Regional Directors, other senior managers and I have had many painful conversations with staff to whom we are having to say goodbye.
Personally, I have held more than 80 open-door meetings in my office with staff who are leaving, many of whom face an uncertain future. I see, feel and understand their pain, anxiety and, in some cases, their anger.
Many colleagues have expressed their gratitude at having been part of the WHO family, and their understanding that we have made the decisions we have made not because we want to, but because we have to.
We believe that the prioritization and realignment process has positioned our Organization for future success. I say this with full confidence.
Of course, no process is perfect, and we acknowledge that some staff have raised concerns about it.
We take those concerns seriously, and we have addressed some of them, and we will continue to address and pending genuine concerns.
Throughout this process, we have operated on three fundamental principles, as we have reported in our previous briefings: transparency, fairness and humanity.
We have engaged with staff continuously throughout the restructuring process, consulting with Staff Associations in headquarters and the regional offices.
Representatives of the Staff Association also participated in all of the Ad hoc Review Committees as members, the Transparency and Fairness Committees as members, and the Global and Local Reassignment Committees, also as members.
We have offered special measures for separated staff on parental leave, home leave, repatriation, travel and shipment, relocation and education grants, and we are providing support to people in especially vulnerable situations.
The aim has been consistent: apply the rules with rigour and compassion, make space for options where our policies and finances allow, and ensure every colleague is treated with respect.
Our staff are not numbers; they are people with lives, families and careers, and we have sought to treat everyone with dignity and respect, to the best we could.
We have sought to listen to the concerns of staff, and to do what we can to address those concerns.
We have strengthened access to clinical and psychosocial support, provided counselling, leadership briefings and tools for respectful communication, and updated our HR guidance to answer the most frequently-asked questions from our staff.
I am proud that throughout this process, we have continued to deliver on our mission and mandate to promote, provide and protect the health of the world’s people.
Many of our Member States have also been affected by cuts to bilateral aid, and we continue to play a vital role in supporting those countries to sustain essential health services, while using the moment as an opportunity to transition away from aid dependency to a new era of sustainable self-reliance, based on domestic resources.
I thank you, our Member States, for your continued engagement, guidance, and support, as we work together to build a WHO that is more sustainable, impactful and resilient – so that we can continue to deliver on our shared mission of health for all.
Finally, I leave you with two primary asks:
First, we seek your continued support for the short term. Thanks in part to the Investment Round, we have now secured 75% of our funding for the 2026-27 biennium. In May, the gap was US$ 1.7 billion; we have now narrowed it to US$ 1 billion.
That’s a better position than we have been in at this stage for any previous biennium.
But of course, we are in a much worse environment for mobilizing resources than we have been in before. So we seek your support to close the remaining gap.
Second, we seek your continued support for the long-term, and especially to approve the next three increases in assessed contributions, in May 2027, May 2029 and May 2031.
We must continue on the path we are on. With more flexible funding and more focus on our core mandate, I believe that we will reach an equilibrium, where we are financially secure and sustainable, more resistant to shocks, and above all, more independent.
Of course, we will always be a Member State organization – but we will truly be an organization for all Member States.
Once again, thank you for your support on this journey so far. We seek your continued support on the journey ahead of us, as we work together to fulfil the mission and mandate that you have given us: the highest attainable standard of health for all people, as a fundamental right – and end in itself, and of course, as a means to prosperity.
I thank you.