The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that its workforce will shrink by nearly a quarter – more than 2,000 jobs – by June 2026, following the withdrawal of funding from its largest donor, the United States.
President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the UN health agency in January, prompting the organisation to scale back its operations and halve its management team. Washington contributes approximately 18% of the WHO’s overall funding.
The Geneva-based body projects a reduction of 2,371 posts from 9,401 in January 2025, due to job cuts, retirements, and departures. This figure does not include temporary staff or consultants, many of whom have already been made redundant. A WHO spokesperson confirmed the total staff leaving and said the workforce could shrink by up to 22%, depending on how many vacant posts are filled.
While the agency had previously said hundreds of staff had left in August, this is the first time it has disclosed the full scale of the expected global staff changes. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the year as “one of the most difficult in WHO’s history” and noted the organisation is now preparing to move forward with a reshaped structure.
The WHO also faces a $1.06bn funding shortfall in its 2026-2027 budget, nearly a quarter of the total required, though this is an improvement from the $1.7bn gap estimated in May. The shortfall excludes $1.1bn of expected funding from deals at various stages of negotiation. The WHO attributed the lower unfunded portion to a smaller budget, a fundraising round, and increased mandatory fees from member states.
