The World Health Organization is freezing recruitment and slashing travel in response to the withdrawal of the U.S., its biggest funder, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO.
“As you know, the United States of America has announced that it intends to withdraw from WHO. We regret this decision and hope the new administration will reconsider it,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told staff in an email sent Thursday night.
“This announcement has made our financial situation more acute, and we know it has created significant concern and uncertainty for the WHO workforce,” he added.
In response, the WHO is “freezing recruitment, except in the most critical areas” and “significantly reducing travel expenditure.” All meetings must now be fully virtual unless in exceptional circumstances, and missions to provide technical support to countries should be “limited to the most essential.”
Other measures include limits to the replacement of IT equipment, a renegotiation of major contracts, and a suspension of office refurbishments and capital investments, unless needed for security or cost-cutting.
