In response, the WHO is “freezing recruitment, except in the most critical areas” and “significantly reducing travel expenditure.” All meetings must now be fully virtual unless in exceptional circumstances, and missions to provide technical support to countries should be “limited to the most essential.”
Other measures include limits to the replacement of IT equipment, a renegotiation of major contracts, and a suspension of office refurbishments and capital investments, unless needed for security or cost-cutting.
“This set of measures is not comprehensive, and more will be announced in due course,” the email added. “I thank those staff who have already sent suggestions for mobilizing resources and further improving our efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and I invite all staff to do the same.”
Global health consultant Fifa Rahman told POLITICO the budget cuts were a “massive own goal for an increasingly isolated United States” and leave it more vulnerable to future outbreaks. “They already had massive problems with disinformation during the last pandemic — without the WHO they will need copious amounts of luck in the next one,” she said.
Meanwhile, far-right Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Thursday he had also proposed a law to pull Italy out of the WHO. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she did not have a position yet, AFP reported.
This article has been updated.
This post was originally published on here
