By Francesco Guarascio and Emma Farge

BRUSSELS/GENEVA – The U.S.’s financial contribution to the World Health Organization(WHO) fell by 25% during the coronavirus outbreak, preliminary data shows. Washington’s future support is under review.

A significant drop in funding over two years resulted from cut decisions by Donald Trump. This is the first indication of Trump’s massive retreat from U.N. bodies.

Following new pledges made by the President Joe Biden in December, including $280million for his administration, U.S. funding is expected to rise again during WHO’s second-year budget. The Biden administration also raises doubts over Washington’s support for the international organisation in the future.

According to preliminary WHO data reviewed by Reuters, the U.N. agency received over $200m less from the United States for 2020 and 2021. However, it was able to raise additional funds from other donors, which allowed an increase in its overall budget.

According to provisional data, Washington has paid $672 Million to WHO for the WHO’s latest 2-year budget. This is a drop from $893M in 2018-19.

The United States has been replaced by Germany as the WHO’s largest donor. Germany received more than one billion dollars in transfers over the past two years. Chart https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Wltvp/6

An immediate response was not provided by the U.S. State Department to our request for comment. The spokesperson for WHO did not respond to a request for comment immediately.

With $584 million spent in 2020-21 on a global program to eliminate poliomyelitis, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ranks third among the WHO’s largest donors. It did not respond to a request for comment immediately.

The U.S. fund balance has declined over the last two years, with Trump’s final full year at the White House. This was despite a steep fall in voluntary contributions.

While funding doubled when Biden assumed control in 2021, it was not sufficient to restore U.S. financial levels to the level of previous periods.

Trump cut funding, and threatened to pull the United States out of the WHO. He accused the WHO of being too close with China and of having mismanaged the initial phase of the pandemic. This accusation was denied by the WHO.

Washington was brought back by the Biden administration to the WHO. They vowed that they would restore funding, but also expressed doubts regarding the WHO’s capacity to address new challenges from China.

INFLEXIBLE FUNDS

To next year, the WHO held off on part of U.S. contributions. Despite this delay, WHO data shows that the decline in U.S. funding was only 20%.

One-third of U.S. funds was made up by mandatory membership fees. This figure remained steady at $230 million each biennium, which is about the same as in past years.

WHO regards this as the best type of funding. It allows for greater spending flexibility, and the agency can channel money where it’s most needed.

The majority of the funding was directed to specific areas by the U.S. government.

These mandatory contributions are part of a larger trend. The WHO received just under 20% of its recent funding from them in the last years.

According to the WHO report, one of the most underfunded areas as of December 21 was the country’s preparation for emergencies such as the current pandemic. This is just 73%.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General) reiterated Tuesday the restriction of the current funding system.

“The problem with still anything we’ve done is (on) mainly an earmarked buget, so it’s really not flexible enough,” he said to the WHO Executive Board during a debate. He stated that the current model of financing was incompatible with sustainability.

The United States opposes a proposal to increase mandatory fees or assess contributions to 50% of WHO’s budget over the next few years.

Mara Burr from the U.S. said Tuesday to the WHO that she was trying to get a better understanding of the funding mechanism, efficiency, and decision-making, before considering raising assessed contributions. Washington supports efforts to fill gaps in preparedness financing.

In fact, the WHO gets the most funding through voluntary donations from countries or private donors. They decide on the areas or projects to be funded.

One reason the Geneva-based Agency has been unable to use all of its funds immediately is because it could not be used to combat the pandemic.