Programme Budget

WHO/P. Albouy
146th session of the WHO Executive Board, Geneva, Switzerland, 3-8 February 2020

The Programme budget is a critical tool for Member States to set and approve the priorities of the Organization, define the targets to be delivered, and to monitor their achievement. It sets out the resource levels required to deliver this work, and provides the tool for the Member States to control these, so as to balance the Organization’s work across the different areas for which it is accountable.

The biennial Programme budgets themselves are derived from the General Programme of Work approved by the Member States, which sets out the strategic direction of WHO. At present, WHO is operating within the scope of the 13th General Programme of Work, which started in 2019, and was extended by two years by the World Health Assembly, to cover through to 2025.

The Programme Budget digital platform provides key information on the draft Proposed programme budget 2024-2025, including the governing bodies document, outputs narrative, digital dashboards and more.

Programme budget digital platform

WHO’s budget segments

The current approved Biennium Programme Budget for 2022-2023 is for US$ 6.72 billion.

WHO’s budget comprises four segments:

Base budget is the largest component and the scope is set by WHO, covering and work done across all three strategic priorities as well as the enabling functions – by country offices, regional office and headquarters.
Special programmes includes work done with additional governance structures, such as the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR); the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP); and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) a public–private partnership led by national governments with five partners – the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.
Emergency operations and appeals that responds to acute and protracted emergencies and disasters from any hazard with public health consequences. The amount of US$ 1 billion is an estimate that can be adjusted subject to reassessment based on outbreaks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Programme budget 2022-2023	Allocations US$ million
Universal health coverage	1 930
Health emergencies	1 250
Healthier populations	455
More effective and efficient WHO	1 333
Polio eradication	558
Special programmes	199
Emergency operations and appeals	1 000
Total	6 725

A75/6 : Proposed revision to the Programme Budget 2022-2023

A75/8: Programme Budget 2022-2023: revision

Sustainable financing

WHO is fully transparent with its budget, donors and spending

WHO’s Programme Budget Portal provides precise details with quarterly updates of the Organization’s budget, financing and implementation progress along with yearly detailed programmatic reviews.

The Portal provides a breakdown of our work, budget & financing, contributors and more. Navigating through the tabs you can find the below information from 2014 to 2020:

Our Programme of Work: a breakdown of WHO’s results hierarchy with links through to more detailed information on each one;
Budget and financing: an overview of the GPW13 budget; a quarterly breakdown of the budget and financing; more detailed financing by budget segment and result, along with our types of funds;
Regions: breakdown of each WHO region and its related Member States, detailing budget, financing and expenditure by results structure;
Contributors: listing of all contributors, types of funding and amounts, and a dynamic graphic showing financial flow from contributors to regions and programmes