The World Health Organization (WHO) received $1.7 billion in new pledges of financial support at the G20 meeting this week, taking the total of voluntary pledges so far to $3.8 billion for the coming four years. With this, the WHO has met 53% of its investment requirement for its 2025–2028 strategy, in WHO parlance, the 14th General Programme of Work (GPW 14).

Australia, Indonesia, Spain and the United Kingdom were among the G20 countries to make the largest pledges at the leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro, chaired by Brazil’s President H.E. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

They committed $410 million, $300 million, $620 million and $392 million respectively.

The G20 group includes all of the world’s biggest economies, including the United States and Canada, the European Union, the African Union, Japan and Australia, as well as Brazil, China, South Africa and India. Together the group accounts for 85% of the world’s GDP, making it a strong economic and trade group.

Notably, several other large G20 members such as France and Canada have not yet made commitments to the WHO “Investment Round” – nor has the United States, where support for the global health agency by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump remains uncertain, following his withdrawal from the organization altogether in 2020, during his last term as president.

WHO aims to recruit large, multi-year commitments

 The new WHO donor strategy aims to stabilize the organization’s funding but collecting large, multi-year donations from member states in the form of “undesignated” funds, rather than as piecemeal contributions to various programmes and activities. Voluntary funding made up about 87% of WHO’s budget in 2022-23, and is thus a critical element alongside required member state assessments. Those have comprised only about 20% of the WHO budget in the past decade, although the World Health Assembly in 2022 voted to gradually boost assessments so that 50% of the WHO budget would be derived from member state fees by 2030.

But voluntary donations will continue to be critical, and so WHO officials launched the “investment round” as a new approach to voluntary fundraising – roughly modeled on the more high-profile, high-prestige “replenishment drives” staged by organizations such as The Global Fund.

“The WHO Investment Round is about mobilizing the predictable, flexible funding WHO needs to save lives, prevent disease and make the world a healthier and safer place,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement, welcoming the new contributions.

South Africa, which will host the next G20 summit, will be carrying the baton for sustainable financing for WHO forward, Tedros added.

G20 support for WHO’s Investment Round 

The support of the G20 for WHO was reflected in the final  Leaders’ Declaration issued at the close of this week’s summit. “We reiterate the central coordinating role of the WHO in the global health architecture, supported by adequate, predictable, transparent, flexible and sustainable financing. We support the conducting of the WHO Investment Round as an additional measure for financing the WHO activities,” the declaration stated.

Other funding events in Europe and Asia have yielded another $2.1 billion making up the $3.8 billion total for the next four years. This represents about 53% of the US$ 7.1 billion in funding WHO needs to fill out its $11.15 billion budget plan, after assessed member state contributions are counted.

See related story: WHO Secures $1 Billion at First European Investment Round

WHO said this year’s investment round initiatives, which have focused on large regional events or global gatherings like the G20, have successfully increased predictability as compared to 2020 when WHO had only 17% of funding secured for its previous strategy.

All in all, since the funding drive was launched in May, here have been 70 new pledges from Member States, and philanthropic and private sector donors, 39 of which are contributing voluntary funds for the first time. This is making WHO’s funding more diversified.

Seven of these new donors are low-income countries and 21 are middle-income countries, representing a shift in WHO’s funding base. Forty-six donors have so far pledged more flexible funding, compared to 35 in the last four years, increasing the ability of WHO to use the funds where they are most needed.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Islamic Development Bank, and Africa Development Bank are among the leading non-state donors.

Improvement in Financial Stability for WHO

WHO has projected that its new strategy, GPW14 can save an additional 40 million lives over the next four years. The investment round was aiming to shift WHO’s funding model so that it is more predictable, flexible and resilient, and it appears to have succeeded in doing that.

During the COVID pandemic, WHO was criticized for its heavy reliance on funding from the Gates Foundation. Countries like the United States accused WHO of going soft on China.

The Investment Round thus was aimed to broaden WHO donor base to reduce its reliance on a few donors and keep its agenda independent.

“The World Health Organization represents humanity’s greatest ideals. Investment over the next four years will be repaid many times over in well-being gained. It will set the foundation for future generations,” said Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“We are proud to carry the baton on from Brazil and continue to spotlight the importance of WHO and the need for sustainable financing towards the goal of health for all,” said Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, which will hold the G20 Presidency in 2025.

Image Credits: PAHO/WHO/Karina Zambrana, WHO.