Various international Covid-19 review panels, experts and civil society groups have recommended making the financing of WHO more reliable and Member State-owned, in order to better equip the organization to fulfill its mandate for pandemics and global health more broadly. Governments will meet mid-December to discuss increasing their obligatory financial contributions to WHO, which have comprised less than 20% of its budget in recent years. But political consensus has been elusive. In a time of global health crisis and considering the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, why are Member States hesitant on making commitments to fully finance WHO and ensure it can fulfill its mandate? Join us to hear from and engage with Björn Kümmel, chair of the intergovernmental working group on WHO financing, on the state of the debate and the prospects for reform.
Speakers
- Björn Kümmel, Chair, WHO Working Group on Sustainable Financing; Deputy Head, Division of Global Health, Federal Ministry of Health of Germany; Vice-Chair, WHO Executive Board
- Moderator: Suerie Moon, Co-Director, Global Health Centre; Professor of Practice, Graduate Institute
