Geneva - Saba:
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed in Geneva on Monday that the organization faces a $1.7 billion deficit over the next two years.
Tedros said this figure is not enough and may be equivalent to what is spent on military equipment worldwide every eight hours.
He stated that the WHO has reduced its senior management body from 14 to seven positions and the number of departments from 76 to 34.
Among those leaving is Mike Ryan, the Emergency Response Coordinator, who became famous during the COVID-19 pandemic for his public press conferences.
The number of staff worldwide will also be reduced by 20%, from approximately 9,500.
The WHO's financial crisis surfaced with the withdrawal of the United States and Argentina from the UN organization, which was founded in 1948.
The United States contributed approximately one-fifth of the WHO's expenditures.
Tedros' remarks came on the first day of the WHO's eight-day annual assembly in Geneva.
The meeting will focus primarily on the formal adoption of a long-awaited international treaty on global pandemics.
The agreement, developed at record speed in response to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to prevent the chaos seen in the global scramble for medical supplies and ensure more equitable vaccine distribution in future health crises.
The treaty is scheduled to be formally adopted on Tuesday.
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