Reuters: The World Health Organization will push at its board meeting this week for an expanded role in tackling the next global health emergency after Covid-19, but is still seeking answers on how to fund it, according to health policy experts.
The Geneva meeting sets the programme for the UN agency this year – as well as its future budget – with the WHO facing two key challenges: a world that expects ever more from its leading health body, but which has not yet proven willing to fund it to tackle those challenges. At the Executive Board’s annual meeting from Jan. 30-Feb. 7, countries will give feedback on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ global strategy to strengthen readiness for the next pandemic which includes a binding treaty currently being negotiated.”I think the focus is very much on the programme budget, then sustainable financing,” Timothy Armstrong, WHO director for governing bodies, told journalists when asked about the agenda.