WHO Director-General Meets With German Minister for Development

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This morning Dr. Tedros held a press conference with Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mrs. Svenja Schulze. 

Germany is the largest donor to the WHO in voluntary contributions, the second is the US. On the core, regular budget, the US is still number one. 

The WHO Executive Board is meeting this week, they are calling for reforms, in particular in the way the budget of the organisation is structured. 

The New York-Presbyterian Hospital alone had, by 31 December of 2020, revenues of around $9.4 billion. Compared to it WHO barely scrapes by, with slightly below $2 billion, and that to serve the demands of its 194 country-members and coordinating a global health system of emergency responses that are strong enough to manage pandemics.

They spoke about allowing emerging economies to produce their own COVID vaccines, technology transfer and programs led by Germany currently under way with Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa.

They also discussed cooperation and collaboration with developing countries through the Berlin hub that was created last Summer with the blessings of former chancellor Angela Merkel and USD $100 million grant from the German government, to make it a global centre for data research and pandemic preparedness. 

WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros, who is expected to have his appointment as the chief of the global health organisation renewed, outlined WHO’s priorities going forward:

Deliver results for country-members.
 
Help countries focus on prevention and well-being.

 We spoke also about the new hub that was launched in Berlin this past Summer for pandemic early warning and prevention, and data gathering in collaboration with developing countries. Watch: