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Tuesday, 20 May 2025
NEWS RELEASE
In historic move, WHO Member States approve 20% funding increase and 2026-27 budget
Geneva— In a show of support for a sustainably financed World Health Organization, WHO Member States today approved a 20% increase in assessed contributions (membership dues) as they endorsed the Organization’s 2026-27 budget of US$ 4.2billion.
This is the second such 20% increase in assessed contributions to WHO, the previous being agreed as part of the 2024-25 budget. It comes as governments are facing financial constraints and economic headwinds and demonstrates Member States’ fundamental support for global health solidarity and the critical role of WHO.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, and other senior leaders thanked Member States for their support and partnership, noting their profound vote of confidence in WHO’s mission and their commitment to health security and resilience worldwide.
Insufficient levels of predictable funding of WHO has hindered its ability to carry out long term projects and support its global operations to promote health for all. In addition, over reliance on funding from a small set of traditional donors, were identified as major organizational challenges as part of WHO’s Transformation initiative that launched in 2017.
In 2022, WHO Member States agreed an historic [https://www.who.int/news/item/24-05-2022-world-health-assembly-agrees-historic-decision-to-sustainably-finance-who] increase in their assessed contributions by gradually increasing their membership dues to represent 50% of WHO’s core budget by the 2030–2031 cycle, at the latest. In the 2020–2021 biennium, assessed contributions represented only 16% of the approved programme budget.
While this work began years ago, due to recent changes in the global financial landscape, sustainable financing is more important than ever before. WHO’s originally approved 2026-27 programme budget was downsized 22% (from US$5.3 billion to US $4.2 billion) due to financial constraints.
Today’s approval of WHO’s base programme budget of US$4.2 billion for 2026-2027 is the first to be fully developed based on the organization’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work, 2025–2028 (GPW 14), its global health strategy for the next four years.
Editors notes
At its meeting in January 2021, WHO’s Executive Board established the Sustainable Financing Working Group [https://apps.who.int/gb/wgsf/] to begin work on a path towards resolving the widening gap between the world’s expectations of WHO and the financial resources available to us to meet them.
In addition to increasing Member State assessed contributions to WHO, several other resource mobilization initiatives are being undertaken to support WHO’s activities. These include the establishment of the WHO Foundation, diversification of WHO’s donor base, and staging of its first Investment Round, including today’s high-level pledging event [https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2025/05/20/default-calendar/sustainable-financing-of-who-for-impact-in-the-new-global-health-landscape].
Ensuring WHO has sustainable levels of financing is critical for it to continue responding to health emergencies, increasing healthcare access, and ensuring people are living healthy lives.
WHA78 marks a key moment in the transformation of WHO to become a more efficient and effective organization, made possible by contributions from partners across the globe.
Related photos: [https://multimedia.who.int/Package/2AOJ8Z04JS9Q]
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