The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday announced the creation of a foundation to channelize new funding sources that could help ease a potential cash shortage as it leads the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, reported Reuters.
The new WHO foundation, which will have a legally separate identity from WHO, will facilitate contributions from the general public, individual major donors and corporate partners to the health body and trusted partners to deliver on high-impact programmes. Its main goal is to help broaden the WHO’s donor base and work towards more sustainable and predictable funding.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the creation of the foundation at a virtual briefing.
“An important part of WHO’s future success is broadening its donor base and increasing both the quantity and quality of funds at its disposal,” said Dr Ghebreyesus. “The creation of the WHO Foundation, as part of WHO’s transformation, is an important step towards this goal, and towards achieving our mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.”
During a news conference, Tedros said the health body had warned many times about a pandemic in recent years. He said countries had identified gaps in their preparedness for fighting pandemics, but financing had not materialized.
The WHO Director-General denied that the move was connected to recent funding issues, saying it had been in the works for years. He revealed that the idea of the foundation was put forward by a staff member in response to a call made nearly three years ago for suggestions to transform the organization.
The United States President Donald Trump has threatened to halt the country’s funding to WHO as he has criticized the international body’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and accusing it of being China-centric. Last week, Trump had sent a letter to Tedros and called on the U.N. agency to initiate reforms within 30 days.
