WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks about trust and partnerships on the first day of the World Health Summit in Berlin.
BERLIN – The World Health Summit, one of the world’s largest annual global health events, is set to host the World Health Organization’s flagship “Investment Round” for European member states and donors on Monday – for resources – In a fresh attempt to raise new funds for the We need to raise $7 billion.
This year’s World Health Summit, to be held here from October 13th to 15th with the theme ‘Believing in a Healthier World’, will bring together thousands of global health leaders, influencers, academics and Civil society organizations will gather for more than 60 sessions on topics ranging from pandemic preparedness. And response to AI. Health, climate, and health in conflict.
But this investment round is also sure to be WHS’s most significant achievement of the year and a sign of its growing partnership with WHO, extending beyond the global health conversation to the world’s leading global health organization. It will move to a “moment” where it can be placed in a more stable state. Economic basis.
The public event included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, billionaire medical philanthropist Bill Gates, Wellcome Trust CEO John Arne Rottingen, and European Health officials from France, Germany, Greece, Norway and Switzerland. Famous actors, including ministers, are also scheduled to participate. .
The aim is to solicit longer-term, flexible funding commitments from key European member states, charities and foundations, WHO Assistant Director-General Katharina Boehme said in an interview with Health Policy Watch on Sunday evening. He said that.
Ms Boehme, herself a German national, was Mr Tedros’ chief of staff before Mr Tedros asked her to lead a new funding initiative. The initiative aims to find new modalities for voluntary financing, which are critical to filling chronic budget gaps left by Member States’ regularly assessed contributions. In recent decades, member states have covered only 20-30% of the WHO’s regular budget. Following a decision by the World Health Assembly in 2022, assessed contributions will increase in stages to meet 50% of WHO’s budget requirements by 2030. However, large gaps remain to be filled.
Europe isn’t the first destination, but it’s one of the hot spots
WHO ADG General Catherine Boehme (centre) currently leads WHO’s investment round initiative.
In fact, Böhme pointed out that Europe is neither the first nor the last destination of the pledge movement. On Monday, October 7, Southeast Asian countries pledged $345 million in voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization’s work at a closed-door event held to coincide with a meeting of the WHO’s Southeast Asia Regional Committee.
Böhme added that following the evening in Berlin, other investment round events are planned in the WHO’s remaining four regions, including the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and the Western Pacific.
Loosely inspired by the successful fundraising efforts of multilateral health giants like the Global Fund, Gavi and the Vaccines Initiative, and given the green light by member states in May, the WHO’s approach is destined to be a bit more modest. It seems to be in
While the Global Fund’s “replenishment drives” have seen heads of state share the stage with rock stars to draw attention and hype around global pledge moments, the WHO is targeting potential donors by region. We are working on The focus is on widening the base of member states that add on ‘assessed’ contributions and on changing the culture of giving to facilitate long-term funding with fewer conditions.
“The trigger was the coronavirus.”
WHS brings together thousands of participants from civil society, academics, and government officials from around the world.
“COVID-19 has been a real catalyst for this journey that we are currently on towards sustainable financing, because Member States have been able to see through COVID-19 and the pandemic how much WHO funding has changed. Because we recognized that it was a problem,” Boehme said.
“What’s important is the resilience of fundraising. More than 70% comes from just 10 donors. It’s about a lack of diversity. It’s a lack of flexibility,” she pointed out.
Therefore, she notes that even in the pledges taken during the event and in its aftermath, there is a relative lack of “designated” pledges that tie donations to specific programs or projects, a common feature of voluntary giving to date. I hope it will be less.
“It’s very inefficient because 80% of the funds are dedicated,” Boehme said. “What we can spend money on is very narrowly defined, which is terrible in the case of health emergencies, for example. We basically direct funds to where they are needed. It is not possible.
“Above all, predictability is also important,” she added, noting that 50% of the WHO’s voluntary donations are in the form of one-year grants, and that the WHO is heavily targeting short-term staff with “no staff security.” He pointed out that it depends.
“It’s not even about raising the baseline; it’s really about making it more predictable, more flexible… so you can use your baseline to pay for the major expenses you need and then We will be able to respond to the situation,” Boehme said.
trust and health
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “Without trust, there is no health”
In his opening remarks on Sunday night, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus linked the fundraising campaign to the conference’s theme of “trust,” building trust between WHO and its member state partners. He said that it is important to improve WHO’s reliable response. Rapidly evolving disease outbreaks and conflict emergencies are more important than ever to organizations’ operations.
“Trust itself does not make people healthy. But without trust, no one can be healthy,” Tedros said, citing examples of infectious disease outbreaks, from Ebola to the COVID-19 pandemic. said public trust in advice on a range of issues, from safe burials to vaccination, was vital to controlling the disease.
He added, “Strong partnerships, like any strong relationship, are built on trust. Everything we do is about the communities we serve, the partners we work with, and the world.” We rely on our member states to set a global health agenda and entrust us with the resources to make it happen.”
“At this year’s World Health Assembly, Member States adopted a new and ambitious strategy, the 14th General Program of Work, to save 40 million lives over the next four years,” he added, adding that the 14th General Program of Work will help save 40 million lives over the next four years. mentioned budget planning goals.
“To realize that strategy, we need a strong and sustainably financed WHO. That is why we are implementing an initial We have launched a WHO investment round.”
“We know we are making this request at a time of competing priorities and limited resources, but as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, health When everything is at risk, everything is at risk. So investing in WHO is not just an investment in healthier people, but in fairer, more stable and safer societies and economies. It’s also an investment.
“These are investments in the vision that countries had when they founded the WHO in 1948: the highest attainable standard of health for all people as a fundamental right.”
Image credit: Stefan Anderson/HPW, LinkedIn.
Combating the infodemic in health information and supporting health policy reporting from the Global South. Our growing network of journalists in Africa, Asia, Geneva and New York connects the dots between local realities and global debates with evidence-based, open-access news and analysis. To donate as an individual or organization, click here with PayPal.
