As A Result Of US Fund Cuts, WHO Announces Massive Layoffs

Illustration of layoffs (Freepik) workers

JAKARTA - The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the large layoffs were due to cuts in funds from the United States (US). The cut in funds saw the organization experience a budget deficit of several hundred million dollars.

"A sudden decrease in income has left us with a huge salary gap and no choice, in addition to reducing our work and labor scale," Tedros said, quoted by CNA, on Thursday, April 24, 2025.

The United States provides WHO 1.3 billion US dollars or around Rp. 21.8 trillion for the 2022 to 2023 budget. This is mainly through voluntary contributions to certain projects, rather than fixed membership costs.

However, the US has never paid its dues for 2024, and it is also estimated that it will not pay dues by 2025. This ultimately makes WHO have to prepare a new structure for various sectors.

The US refusal to pay the contribution assessed for 2024 and 2025 is combined with a reduction in official development assistance by several other countries. That means we face a salary gap for 2026 to 2027 between 560 million US dollars or 650 million US dollars," he explained.

However, Tedros did not reveal how much work would be lost in WHO, which currently employs more than 8 thousand people worldwide. However, he claimed to have bid farewell to a large number of colleagues and promised to reduce workers humanely.

Tedros said that the biggest impact would be felt at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. They reduced senior leadership teams at the head office due to the cut in funds.

We started with a senior management reduction. We reduced senior leadership teams at the head office from 12 to 7. And the number of departments will be reduced by more than half, from 76 to 34," Tedros concluded.