The World Health Organization
The organization was created in 1948 as the United Nations’ (UN) global health agency and is a member-driven organization, whose 194 member states convene as the World Health Assembly to set policy and direction. It is divided into a headquarters staff in Geneva and six semi-autonomous regional offices, whose heads are elected by the member states.
Activities range from promoting the polio vaccine to supporting childhood nutrition to playing a leadership role in the case of health emergencies.
“There will be guidelines on what kind of essential medicines there should be, what kind of essential diagnostics there should be, what might be the regimens to use in relation to HIV in different countries, taking into account the resources available,” says Rifat Atun, professor of global health systems at Harvard University. “Countries are not under any obligation legally to follow these guidelines, but many do in relation to epidemics.”
The organization’s current budget is $4.8 billion, “around the size of a large U.S. hospital. It’s about one quarter of the budget of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” says Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University.
Of the total budget, $957 million comes from assessments and $4.9 billion comes from voluntary contributions. The U.S. accounts for about one-fifth of its funding, while China contributed roughly 1%.
Countries also make additional voluntary contributions, as does the United Nations, philanthropic foundations, and nongovernmental organizations. Donors typically earmark these monies for specific causes. The largest allocation from voluntary contributions goes to polio, which has an $863 million budget in 2020-2021. “It means that the organization is primarily driven by a lot of the outside influences of donors in terms of how it can budget,” says Jennifer Kates, director of global health at Kaiser Family Foundation.
In addition, the U.S. pledged more than $656 million for specific programs.
