WHO chief calls 2025 a year of 'stark contrasts' as landmark health deals met funding cuts

GENEVA

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief on Monday described 2025 as a year of "stark contrasts" for the UN health agency, marked by major global health achievements alongside deep financial strain that forced staff reductions.

Speaking at the 158th session of the Executive Board in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the year was a "landmark" for WHO, citing the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement, the entry into force of amended International Health Regulations, approval of an increase in assessed contributions, and an ambitious UN political declaration on noncommunicable diseases and mental health.

At the same time, he said, 2025 was "one of the most difficult years in our Organization’s history," as "significant cuts to our funding left us with no choice but to reduce the size of our workforce."

Tedros noted that WHO’s challenges were part of a broader crisis affecting international organizations, with "sudden and severe cuts to bilateral aid" disrupting health systems in many countries.

He recalled that WHO began addressing its reliance on a small group of donors more than eight years ago, including a plan approved in 2022 to raise assessed contributions to 50% of the base budget. Member States have already approved several increases, with more scheduled through 2031.

"Thanks to all these measures, we have now mobilized 85% of the resources we need for the base budget this biennium," he said, while warning that the remaining gap would be difficult to close and that earmarked funding continued to create "pockets of poverty" in key areas, such as work on emergency preparedness, AMR, health financing, climate resilience and determinants of health.

Tedros said failure to approve assessed contribution increases would have left WHO "in a far worse situation," arguing that continued reforms were essential to ensure an impartial, science-based organization.

"The story of 2025 is not one of austerity, but resolve," he said. "This is your WHO. Its strength is your unity. Its future is your choice."

GENEVA

Tedros noted that WHO’s challenges were part of a broader crisis affecting international organizations, with "sudden and severe cuts to bilateral aid" disrupting health systems in many countries.

"The story of 2025 is not one of austerity, but resolve," he said. "This is your WHO. Its strength is your unity. Its future is your choice."