Brussels / Geneva: The US Financial Contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) has dropped 25% during a pandemic Coronavirus, preliminary data showed, with the support of Washington in the future to be reviewed by the UN agency.
Big drop in funding versus the previous two-year period appear from cuts decided by the former US president Donald Trump revealed for the first time scale retreat Trump administration of the UN body.
US funds will rise again in the next WHO budget two years after a new appointment in December, including $ 280 million by the administration of President Joe Biden.
However, Biden administration has also raised doubts about Washington’s support in the future for global organizations.
UN agencies have done with more than $ 200 million less than the United States in 2020 and 2021, according to perdominan the data contained in budget documents reviewed by Reuters which has not been published, although he managed to collect more funds from other donors, which allows improved total budget.
Washington paid $ 672 million to the WHO’s latest two-year budget, down from $ 893 million in 2018-19, preliminary data showed.
As a result, the United States is no longer a top donor Who, with Germany has replaced gradually through the transfer of more than one billion dollars over the past two years.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Spokesman who did not immediately give an official comment.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the third largest donor to the WHO, with $ 584 million in 2020-21, mostly spent on a global program to eradicate polio.
The Foundation did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Over the past two years, the fund fell down mostly in 2020 – a full year Trump at the White House – in the middle of a sharp fall in the so-called voluntary contributions.
Funding doubled in 2021 when Biden take over, but the increase was not enough to fully restore US funding levels compared to the previous period.
Trump cut funding and moved to withdraw the United States from the WHO, accusing him too close to China and had mismanaged the first phase of the pandemic which has denied the allegations.
Biden Administration bring Washington back to WHO and vowed to recover the funds but also voiced doubts about the ability of anyone to cope with new challenges, including from China.
Part of the Contributions of the U.S.
Treasury delayed by WHO to next year.
But even this into account, the fall in US funds is about 20%, the data shows.
About a third of US funding is mandatory membership fee, which remained stable compared to the last years of approximately $ 230 million per bienium.
It is considered by WHO funding the best because it allows for greater flexibility in spending and allow the agency to funnel money to the most needed.
But the majority of the funding went to the area selected by the US government.
It is part of a wider trend, with which has received a total of less than 20% of its funding in recent years from this mandatory contributions, without strings attached.
WHO Documents show that one of the worst areas on Dec.
21 is the state of preparation for health emergencies, such as the current pandemic, which is only 73% funded.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Tuesday that the current funding structure limit.
“The problem is anything that we do, especially (on) a budget that is destined, so it is not flexible enough,” he told the WHO Executive Board during the public debate, saying that the financing model is unsustainable.
United States opposed the plan to raise the mandatory fees, or assessing the contribution, up to 50% of the budget of the WHO in the coming years.
“The US is trying to better understand the current funding mechanism, efficiency and decision-making before considering an increase in the assessed contribution,” said Mara Burr US health officials told the Board of the WHO on Tuesday, noting the effort to support the gap to set up the gap.
By far the largest part of the funding comes from the WHO voluntary contributions from state or private donors who define the sector or even a project in which they should be used.
It is one of the factors that have led the Geneva-based Agency to suspend the use of some funds because they all can not be devoted to the fight against the pandemic.