LONDON, England
The World Health Organization has reduced its management team by half and will have to scale back operations, its director-general said, four months after the United States announced it was leaving the agency and cutting funding.
"To be blunt, we cannot
do everything," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a budget committee
meeting ahead of the body's annual meeting next week.
President Donald Trump said
the US was leaving the agency on the first day of his return to office in
January.
Under US law, a one-year
notice period is required before the country, the biggest financial backer of
the WHO, can leave, as well as the payment of all fees. That money is
outstanding.
Dr Tedros said the body and
its member states must make difficult choices about what to prioritise, given a
proposed 21% cut in the budget for 2026-2027 to $4.2 billion.
Even that reduced budget will
only be about 60% funded, provided member states agree to raise their mandatory
fees at the meeting next week, he said.
The WHO has already announced
efficiency measures and hopes to save around $165 million this year.
It will also reduce the number
of its departments to 34 from 76 and plans to cut staff costs by 25%, Dr Tedros
said, although that did not mean 25% of jobs would be cut.
"But let's be clear:
reducing the scale of our workforce means reducing the scale and scope of our
work," he said, adding the organisation would close some offices in
high-income countries.
Dr Tedros said the WHO has had
discussions with other global health groups to discuss better collaboration
given the cuts.
The body's new leadership team
of seven, including Dr Tedros, is down from 14 people.
The changes include moving
chief scientist Dr Jeremy Farrar into a role as assistant director-general for
health promotion and disease prevention and control.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu will
become executive director of the health emergencies programme, and Dr Sylvie
Briand will be chief scientist.
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