Donor Country Promises IDR 2.78 Trillion Fund Support For WHO

WHO Headquarters. (Wikimedia Commons/Thorkild Tylleskar)

JAKARTA - China, Qatar, Switzerland, and other countries promised more than 170 million US dollars (Rp2,787,328,500,000) for the World Health Organization (WHO) at its meeting on Tuesday, the agency said, and countries also received higher costs to help offset losses estimated by the exit of the United States as the largest donor.

"In a challenging climate for global health, these funds will help us to preserve and expand our life-saving work," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement on a new donation spanning 2025-2028.

The WHO list shows the hosts Switzerland giving 40 million US dollars; Sweden gave 13.5 million US dollars; Angola gave 8 million US dollars; Qatar gave 6 million US dollars; while other promises came from the Novo Nordic Foundation and ELMA Philanthropies.

That doesn't include the previous USD 500 million pledge from China as WHO says calculations are still ongoing.

"These efforts provide a strong signal of Chinese support to WHO during this reform process," said Chinese Health Minister Dr. Lei Haichao.

A Chinese diplomatic mission spokesman said the pledge included mandatory costs and voluntary donations and support for other projects.

Prior to the current financial crisis, WHO had attempted to overhaul its funding model so as not to rely too much on donations from several major economies. Washington has provided 18 percent of its funding.

US President Donald Trump announced plans for the country to leave the WHO on the First Day of his term of office on January 20, a move that will take one year to implement.

On Tuesday, US Health Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. considered the organization "unpowered".

WHO itself has revised the 2026-2027 budget to a fifth to 4.2 billion US dollars and cut management positions.

The new budget, which was officially adopted on Tuesday by a panel seeking to address the funding crisis, will increase the state's mandatory cost of 20 percent over the next two years and make China the new main donor country.

"Our common goal must be to start rapid reforms to protect the organization," said Bj Zaman K\"ummel, head of the Global Health Unit at the German Ministry of Health.