In response, the WHO is “freezing recruitment except in the most critical areas” and “significantly reducing travel expenses.” All meetings must now be entirely virtual, barring exceptional circumstances, and missions to provide technical support to countries must be “limited to the most essential elements”.
Other measures include limits on IT hardware replacement, a renegotiation of major contracts and a suspension of office renovations and capital investments unless necessary for security or cost-cutting reasons.
“This set of measures is not exhaustive and others will be announced in due course,” the email added. “I thank the staff who have already sent suggestions to mobilize resources and further improve our efficiency and profitability, and I invite all staff to do the same.”
Fifa Rahman, a global health consultant, told POLITICO that budget cuts were a “massive goal for an increasingly isolated United States” and made it more vulnerable to future outbreaks. “They already had huge problems with misinformation in the last pandemic – without the WHO, they will need a lot of luck in the next one,” she said.
Far-right Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday he had also proposed a law to withdraw Italy from the WHO. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she did not yet have a job, AFP reported.
This article has been updated.
