The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) is in trouble. Big trouble. As the United Nations health agency braces for the planned full U.S. withdrawal of funding next January, it slashed its two-year budget for 2026-2027 on Wednesday from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
The U.S. is by far the agency’s biggest financial backer, contributing a hefty 18 percent of its overall funding in support of its bureaucratic tentacles.
But even after the dramatic scaling back, it remains $1.9 billion short towards that budget, Health Policy Watch reported, causing worries at the plush head offices near the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
AFP reports that figure, which the publication said had been provided to staff during a town hall meeting, comes on top of the nearly $600 million the agency had already warned was missing towards this year’s budget, it said.
The outlet notes besides announcing the U.S. pullout from the globalist W.H.O. on his first day after returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump decided to freeze virtually all U.S. foreign aid, including vast assistance to health projects worldwide, as he works to drain the bureaucratic swamp in Washington.
🚨 President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization pic.twitter.com/YyKYMP53Ur
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 21, 2025
The United States gave W.H.O. $1.3 billion in taxpayer dollars during its 2022-2023 budget period, mainly through voluntary contributions for specific earmarked projects rather than fixed membership fees.
Only last Friday, W.H.O. chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus informed staff of the $600-million hole in this year’s budget, warning the agency had “no choice” but to start making cutbacks, as Breitbart News reported.
“Dramatic cuts to official development assistance by the United States of America and others are causing massive disruption to countries, NGOs and United Nations agencies, including WHO,” the Ethiopian career bureaucrat said in his email.
UPDATE: A petition calling for the resignation of World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is nearing one million signatures. https://t.co/INFaBju21O
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 12, 2020
The W.H.O. will reduce jobs at senior leadership level at its headquarters in Switzerland though all levels and regions will be affected, the memo added.
It will decide on how to prioritize its work and resources by the end of April.
Last month, Tedros pleaded with Washington to reconsider its sharp cuts to global health funding, warning that the sudden halt threatened millions of lives.
