11.2 Draft Twelfth General Programme of Work

Key documents

• DRAFT TWELFTH WHO GENERAL PROGRAMME OF WORK: draft for discussion by the Executive Board in January 2013 (EB132/26)

• The purpose of the document is to provide a strategic vision for the work of WHO for the period 2014-2019.  

PHM COMMENT

PHM wants to share its concern with member States regarding the decision to keep the key topics of priority setting and WHO’s financing mechanisms out of the reform agenda.

Moreover, although WHO’s financing crisis was earlier seen to be at the core of the reform process, in this document the analysis of this issue is limited to few paragraphs at the end of the priority setting exercise, without any innovative recommendations.

Concerning priority setting, we appreciate the introduction, among the strategic priorities, of the social determinants of health conceived as a means of reducing health inequities within and between countries. However, the whole exercise of priority setting is not sufficient alone to solve the problem of budget allocation if it is not associated with a discussion on new sustainable financial mechanisms. The success of any new mechanisms for prioritisation will depend upon addressing the distortions of resource allocation arising from tied donor funding.

Moreover, the proposed mechanism to connect the priorities with the budget allocation is insufficient and would not prevent distortions of resource allocation arising from donor interests. There is no clear explanation offered of how the remaining financial gaps will be filled. There is thus a clear risk that certaing key areas of WHO’s work which do not attract donor funding will continue to be poorly financed.

Finally, despite the fact that several Member States had asked for an increase in assessed  contributions during the last WHA, this issue is not addressed in the present document. Without making any commitment to a real increase of assessed contributions - whose falling share in WHO’s budget was and is a major driver of the financial crisis facing the WHO - any proposal of reform will remain ineffective.

We urge Member States to argue for sustainable financial mechanisms that ensure adequate untied funding of WHO. This implies creating mechanisms not merely relying on voluntary contributions, but also based on an increase in assessed contributions and the conversion from specified into flexible voluntary contributions. 

For the EB DISCUSSION look at the following agenda item: Proposed Programme Budget 2014-2015