The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Tuesday approved reforms that will increase WHO funding by $600 million a year from 2028.
The World Health Assembly consists of representatives from 194 WHO Member States. According to a published statement, the governing body on 24 May adopted several recommendations “aiming to gradually increase the assessed contributions (membership fees) to 50% of the WHO main budget before the 2030-2031 budget cycle at the latest”. on the WHO website.
“In the most recent 2020-2021 biennial budget, the assessed contributions accounted for only 16% of the approved program budget,” said WHO.
The United Nations (UN) public health authority continued, detailing the new financial plan for the World Health Assembly:
The gradual increase in assessed contributions is expected to begin with the WHO budget for 2024–2025, with a proposed 20% increase in assessed contributions in the approved master budget for 2022–2023. The target is to reach 50% of the WHO budget in 2028-2029 if possible and by 2030-2031 at the latest, compared to the current 16% in 2020-2021.
That means it’s in 2028-2029. WHO will see an increase in revenue share of approximately $600 million per year from the most sustainable and predictable sources.
The World Health Assembly is currently holding its 75th Annual Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from 22 to 28 May. This meeting was the first face-to-face meeting of the governing body since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in China in March 2020.
On May 19, the Taiwanese government expressed its “discontent” with WHO for refusing to invite Taipei to attend this year’s World Health Assembly. Taiwan, a sovereign island nation declared a province of China by Beijing, launched an unsuccessful campaign to gain limited observer status at the forum in the weeks before the summit.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), made a speech on the opening day of the 75th World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO), held in Geneva on May 22, 2022. (Getty Images via JEAN-GUY PYTHON/AFP)
“We deeply regret that WHO has once again failed to maintain its professional and political neutrality and made an invitation to Taiwan,” Joanne Ou, spokesperson for Taiwan’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Taipei on May 19.
“Clearly, WHO will not respond to massive international support for Taiwan,” he added.
Taipei’s failed campaign to win a seat at the 2022 World Health Assembly is the sixth attempt in many years. Observers believe that China, one of WHO’s most powerful members, has not officially blocked Taiwan’s attempts to attend the summit in recent years. The ruling Chinese Communist Party regularly blocks Taipei’s efforts to recognize the sovereignty of international institutions such as the UN.
“Republic of China [Beijing’s official name for Taiwan] He was expelled from WHO in 1972, a year after losing his seat in the UN. As relations between Beijing and Taipei warmed under the rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), he was able to send delegations from 2009 to 2016 to join the WHA as an observer called “Chinese Taipei”. Taipei Times It reminded me of May 20.
UPDATE: A petition calling for the resignation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has nearly a million signatures. https://t.co/INFaBju21O
– Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 12, 2020
Taiwan has been excluded from the WHA since 2017 due to opposition from China, which has taken a tough stance against President Tsai Ing-wen and his Democratic Progressive Party.
The United States has been the largest individual donor to WHO in recent years, with Washington contributing more than $400 million to the organization in 2020. The public health authority’s budget is approximately $6 billion for the year covering 2018-2019. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to reduce funding to WHO in April 2020 as the “government organization failed and covered up severely” the severity of the Chinese coronavirus in late 2019 and early 2020.
The Taiwanese government tried to warn WHO about the novel coronavirus in December 2019, but the organization “virtually ignored” relevant reports from Taipei.
“Taiwan notified WHO last December of our concerns about the severity of the coronavirus,” the Taipei Office of Economic and Cultural Affairs (TECRO) told Breitbart News in March 2020. outside. WHO often ignored our messages and never shared information like it does in other countries.
The administration of US President Joe Biden returned the funds to WHO in January 2021.
Source: Breitbart
