The World Health Organisation, WHO, on Monday raised the alarm that shrinking global health funding is colliding with rising disease threats and conflict, creating dangerous vulnerabilities just as countries finalise new agreements meant to prevent the next pandemic.
Opening the 158th session of the WHO Executive Board, Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world is facing a defining moment for global health security.
“2025 was a year of stark contrasts for our Organization, he said, pointing to major reforms achieved alongside severe financial pressure.
While governments adopted the landmark WHO Pandemic Agreement and brought amended International Health Regulations into force, the agency itself was forced to reduce its workforce due to funding cuts.
“Significant cuts to our funding left us with no choice but to reduce the size of our workforce. Sudden and severe cuts to bilateral aid have also caused huge disruptions to health systems and services in many countries,” Tedros disclosed.
The warning comes as WHO data show deep global care gaps persist. Billions still lack access to basic services, and health costs continue to push families into poverty, while a global shortage of health workers looms.
“4.6 billion people still lack access to essential health services, and 2.1 billion people face financial hardship because of health costs. The world is facing a shortage of 11 million health workers by 2030.”
Despite the strain, the WHO chief insisted the pandemic accord represents a major step forward in global preparedness, strengthening surveillance, cooperation and equitable access to countermeasures.
“The pandemic taught all of us many lessons especially that global threats demand a global response. Solidarity is the best immunity.”
Through global surveillance initiatives, more than 110 countries have upgraded laboratory and epidemic intelligence systems, and WHO has secured access to hundreds of millions of influenza vaccine doses in the event of a pandemic. However, Tedros stressed that preparedness cannot be sustained without reliable financing.
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Beyond infectious disease, he highlighted conflict as an escalating health threat, with attacks on hospitals and health workers rising sharply.
“We continue to see attacks on health care as the alarming and illegal new normal of conflict,” he said, noting WHO verified 1,350 such attacks last year.
At the same time, scientific progress continues. Polio cases have dropped to historic lows, more countries have eliminated neglected tropical diseases, and new vaccines and treatments are expanding. He pointed in particular to a breakthrough HIV prevention drug.
“Lenacapavir is the nearest thing we have to an HIV vaccine,” he said.
But the Director-General cautioned that medical advances alone cannot compensate for fragile systems.
A central message of the address was WHO’s push to reduce reliance on a small group of donors — a structural weakness exposed by the funding crisis.
“I mean a WHO that is no longer a contractor to the biggest donors. I mean an impartial, science-based organisation that is free to say what the evidence says, without fear or favour.”
Member States have increased their mandatory contributions, helping WHO secure most of its current budget, but Tedros warned the remaining gap will be difficult in the present economic climate.
He framed the moment as a turning point for both WHO and the wider global health system.
“WHO can’t do everything, and we shouldn’t try. WHO’s superpower is its convening power.”
Summing up the year, he rejected the idea that the period should be defined by austerity.
“The story of 2025 is not one of austerity but resolve. The challenge now, he suggested, is whether countries will match new global health agreements with sustained investment or risk entering the next crisis with stronger rules but weaker systems.