PHM-Exch> Press Release_WHO's Sustainable Financing

[Jyotsna Singh]

Dear all,

Today (24 May), PHM held a press briefing during the 76th World
Health Assembly. It was a joint PC with Society for International
Development (SID), Public Services International (PSI) and Third World
Network (TWN). Following is the Press Release, also attached. I am also
attaching a draft decision which institutionalises earmarked funding, which
is the root of the problem in the first place! Kindly share widely! Thanks.

Jyotsna

*Press Release*



WHO Heading Towards New Disastrous Era of Health Financialization



**WHA76 decisions on sustainable financing raises concerns**





*Geneva, 24th May 2023*



The ongoing 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) is discussing, among many
important agenda points including tackling "Matters Emanating from the
Working Group on Sustainable Financing." For a long time, WHO has been
facing a funding crunch, coupled with a very inefficient sourcing of its
funding.  The resulting financial weakening of the WHO has had significant
implications on the agency’s core work. Civil society organisations and
academics have been raising questions calling for stopping the freezing on
WHO funding for decades. Finally, two years ago, a Working Group on
Sustainable Financing was established with the task of assessing reasons
for the funding crunch and making recommendations to resolve it.



The Working Group correctly analysed that WHO is suffering from a
structural lack of flexible funding that is adversely impacting its work
and priorities. The 75th WHA adopted the recommendations of the Working
Group and entrusted the Secretariat with developing a replenishment
mechanism to broaden the financial base. In a surprise turn, the decision
on replacement mechanism, attached here, calls for earmarked funding
alongside unearmarked funding. This is nothing but the institutionalisation
of the earmarked contribution that has led to the dismal functioning of the
WHO at various levels, including the increasing penetration of the private
philanthropic sector in the organization.



At a press conference today, civil society organisations raised serious
concerns about the issue of WHO funding and the pathways being created for
private sector investments. “The draft decision goes against the very
objective of the recommendation of the Working Group. As per the approved
budget of USD 6834.1 million for the 2024-25 biennium, USD 5685.8 million
is to be funded through Voluntary Contributions (VCs). The
institutionalisation of earmarked funding would further stabilize   donor
driven priorities and compromise the credibility, independence and
integrity of WHO,” Lauren Paremoer of PHM said.



“Philanthro-capitalist influence cannot be the destiny of the WHO. It has
come to be accepted as the normal state of affairs but has to be resisted
in every way possible. We call on Member States to ensure sufficient and
predictable assessed funds to safeguard the leading role of WHO in
international health,” said Baba Aye from Public Services International.



The draft decision provides the mandate to the WHO Secretariat to organise
the investment round. As per the A76/32 to support the investment round a
WHO Investors’ Forum would be established. “Health is surely not an
expenditure but the most important political investment in and for society,
yet the current WHO investment approach towards public health is highly
problematic, as it inherently reproduces the extractive logic of the
banking and financial system, not the long term mentality that health
policies require,” commented Nicoletta Dentico of Society for International
Development (SID).  “We of course need to increase public funding, but the
devil is hidden in the multilateral development community’s fixation with
leveraging the private sector in healthcare using public money to de-risk
investments. That is why the creation of an Investors’ Forum at the WHO
looks now the new attempt to advance health financialization at the very
core of the agency’s governance” stated Dentico.

As K M Gopakumar of the Third World Network (TWN) said, “the idea of WHO
Investors’ Forum would seriously undermine the role of the vast majority of
Member states in WHO’s governance. The Forum participants consisting of a
rather impenetrable network of philanthropic foundations and the private
sector would *de facto* control WHO’s priorities. Further, it also
legitimises the white washing of money and images of the private sector
through WHO Foundation.”

*Note to the editor:* Document A76/32
<https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA76/A76_32-en.pdf> on
Sustainable financing reveals a shifting perspective about *how* the WHO
should be funded. While the new funding aims to increase assessed
contributions, up to 50% by 2028, only 20% of the current base segment of
the budget comes from assessed contributions. Gaps will be filled by the
financing mechanism (FM), also known as the replenishment mechanism, which
comprises voluntary (earmarked) contributions. Voluntary Contributions
(VCs) come with strings attached. The dictation based on the earmark system
keeps the WHO dependent on voluntary contributions and effectively narrows
decision-makers to a small group of wealthy state and non-state donors who
will be able to disproportionately determine the WHO's priorities during
the investors forum.  VCs may thus form a barrier for the WHO to fulfil its
normative mandate.Moreover, VCs make it difficult to set priorities, as it
may not always be predictable what donors will want to spend their
donations on. Lastly, through the proposed mechanism and investment forum,
there is a risk of limiting the voice of Global South countries in the WHO,
despite the fact that they make up the majority of WHO membership and are
often the focus of the WHO’s programs and policies.



WHO is funded through three sources. Governments contribute towards its
core financial capacity though the so called “assessed contributions”. The
WHO is free to use these funds independently according to its priorities –
currently, only 14% of the WHO’s funding. The second type of contribution
is by donors who give unearmarked funds, though the proportion is much
less. The third type is earmarked funding by donors. Over the years,
earmarked funding has increased dramatically, overtaking other types of
funding and squeezing WHO’s freedom to operate. Currently, as much as 83%
of WHO’s financial support comes from earmarked donations. This heavily
compromises the independent function of the WHO.



*About Us:*

*A press conference was held today by four organisations – People’s Health
Movement (PHM), Society for International Development (SID), Public
Services International (PSI) and Third World Network (TWN) – in Geneva,
Switzerland to highlight their serious concern regarding financing of the
World Health Organisation (WHO).*


*Contacts:*

Jyotsna Singh: +91 9999332811 (WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram)

Lauren Paremoer, PHM: lauren at phmovement.org
Nicoletta Dentico, SID: ndentico at sidint.org
Baba Aye, PSI: baba.aye at world-psi.org

K. M. Gopakumar, TWN: kumargopakm at gmail.com
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