LONDON - The World Health Organization's emergencies department is facing “existential threats” as multiplying health crises have left it so short of cash that it needed emergency funds to pay staff salaries at the end of last year, an independent report said. It will likely have to ask for funding again to cover salaries up to June, the document, released ahead of the WHO’s annual meeting in Geneva this week, said. In 2023, the department responded to 72 emergencies.
They included earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria, conflict in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza, and a large global cholera outbreak. Download the CTV News App for breaking news alerts and video on all the top stories The report, by an independent oversight committee, said that countries need to strengthen their own preparedness efforts and the WHO must improve the way it transfers responsibilities to national authorities to cope with the increased demands. It also recommends new guidelines for the WHO's role in managing long-lasting humanitarian emergencies, rather than the acute disease outbreaks that the department also deals with.
“More numerous natural disasters and conflicts in fragile states pose existential threats” to the performance of the emergencies program, the document reads. Without increased capacity in countries, the WHO's emergencies program "will be obliged to cut back critical activities”, it adds. The WHO has a system of grading emergencies, with its highest level of alert being a “public .
