WHO health emergency: The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged swift, coordinated action to avert a growing crisis in funding for essential health services, warning that steep cuts to external aid and rising debt are destabilising health systems worldwide.
Unveiling new guidance for governments on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told African Union member states in Geneva that sudden reductions in foreign assistance have already disrupted care across many low- and middle-income countries. WHO estimates external health aid in 2025 will be more than 30% lower than in 2023, with data from March showing immediate service disruptions in roughly 70% of LMICs. “One third of countries now report critical shortages of essential medicines and health programmes,” Tedros said.
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He noted the strain predates recent cuts, with pandemic-era borrowing compounding chronic underinvestment. The current crunch, he added, should be used to “leave behind the era of aid dependency and embrace a new era of sovereignty, self-reliance and solidarity.” Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, echoed the call, urging faster progress toward domestic self-reliance.
WHO’s guidance urges countries to protect health budgets even under fiscal pressure; target spending to the highest-impact services; and prioritise access for the poorest. Several African nations are already moving: Nigeria increased its health allocation by $200 million this year to offset aid shortfalls, while Ghana lifted the cap on excise revenues for its national health insurance, boosting its budget by 60%. Increased health spending “is not a cost, but an investment which yields very high returns,” said AU health commissioner Amma Twum-Amoah, calling for a shift “from health dependency to health sovereignty.”
