WHO candidate urges higher country contributions

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, a candidate to lead the World Health Organization, said Monday that countries should pay higher mandatory contributions to help offset the budget impact of the United States leaving the agency.

Budi told AFP the WHO should first review and narrow its priorities rather than simply chasing replacement funding. He said regular member funding should rise to more than 50 percent of the agency's budget, compared with what he described as about 20 to 30 percent now.

Member countries make mandatory “assessed contributions” to the WHO every two years, based on income and population size. Most of the WHO budget comes from voluntary contributions from governments and donors.

Budi said raising the mandatory share would not be too onerous for countries. He also said the United States' departure in January was “not a total disaster” for the WHO, but argued that any country outside the agency would be at a disadvantage in a global health emergency.

“It is very clear that we need to bring them back,” he said, adding that he would start talks with Washington “right away” if elected.

Budi said he would also push WHO members to adopt a global pandemic treaty backed by a fund, with the goal of ensuring equal access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics during a future pandemic.

He said the WHO was “not ready” for a new global outbreak and was not doing enough to respond to the Democratic Republic of Congo's deadliest Ebola epidemic.

The WHO's 34-member Executive Board is due in January to nominate up to three candidates for director general. The World Health Assembly of member states will choose the next head in May 2027. Budi is running against candidates from Botswana, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Spain and China.