The four budget segments show the scale of the operations of major offices in 2020–2021, with the Regional Office for Africa, the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and headquarters having the largest operations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic response, all major offices showed unprecedented levels of financing and implementation for emergency operations and appeals segment, significantly exceeding the amounts estimated in the approved programme budget.

Despite the impact of the large-scale emergency operations mounted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO continued to focus on fulfilling the commitments of the approved programme budget to the extent possible and in all segments.For more details of the approved Programme budget 2020–2021, its funding and implementation, see

  Budget & Finance Summary

BASE BUDGET FUNDING AND IMPLEMENTATION 

The base budget segment was full funded in 2020–2021. Funding levels varied by SP: SP1 and EP4 were more than 95% funded, while SP2 and SP3, although smaller, were funded at 84% and 75%. Flexible and thematic funds were used strategically to support areas with less funding throughout the base segment.

The availability of funds affected implementation of strategic priorities. SP1 and EP4 show implementation levels close to the approved levels, due partly to the very high levels of funding. Implementation of SP2 and SP3 was much lower than their approved programme budget levels, reflecting much less funding; however, implementation was close to 90% of the available funds. In the case of SP2, which represents mainly the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, implementation of the base budget segment was also slightly delayed because of large-scale emergency operations mounted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as reflected in the emergency operations and appeals segment.

Flexible and thematic funds were used strategically to support areas in the base segment with less funding. For more details on funding and implementation of the base budget by strategic priority and type of funds, see

  Budget & Finance Details

Funding ranged from 33.8% of the approved programme budget for SP3 in the Regional Office for Africa to 163.8% at headquarters for SP1. The secretariat continued to ensure more equitable allocation of resources among major offices and results; however, reducing funding gaps and attaining equitable funding of all programme budget results in all major offices cannot be achieved without more timely, predictable, flexible funding, which is a core concern of the Member State Working Group on Sustainable Financing.

Implementation of the base budget ranged from 70% of the approved programme budget in the Region of the Americas to 103% at headquarters. The availability of funds is a major driver of implementation. All the major offices implemented over 95% of their available funds.

A concerted effort was made to focus budget and funding at country level on outcomes defined as priorities by Member States. In country offices for which information on prioritization was available, technical outcomes classified as of high priority were allocated 87% of the total budget and 86% of resources, and 50% of the priority outcomes received over 75% funding.

Disaggregation of funding at lower levels makes it easier to understand the funding situation in the Organization and highlights the importance of sustainable financing to reduce funding gaps. The more funding is aggregated, the more often it masks less optimistic realities at lower levels of the programme budget. This underlines the importance of flexible resources, which are key to reducing chronic lack of funding in certain areas of work.

Earlier in this summary, the high level of funding of SP1 (120%) was highlighted. Once the data are disaggregated by outcome (see heatmap above), it can be seen that funding is directed mainly to high-priority outcome 1.1. For the African Region, for example, funding of 1.1 was over 100%, while outcome 1.2 in the same strategic priority was funded at only 58%. Flexible funds represented 16% of the total funds available for 1.1 and 62% of total funding of 1.2 in the African Region.

For the four least funded outcomes – 3.2 and 3.3 in the African Region and 2.3 and 3.3 in the Americas Region – both flexible and thematic funds constituted 60% and 72% and 94% and 76%, respectively, of the total funds available.

FUNDING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS AND APPEALS SEGMENT

The segment for emergency operations and appeals (US$ 1000 million) is a segment, which was reintroduced as a budget segment in the approved Programme Budget 2020–2021. The segment is governed by acute external events, and the resource requirements are usually significant and difficult to predict; for this reason, biennial budget requirements are an estimate. During the biennium, budget is assigned to each major office as required.

This operational segment is funded mainly through appeals. Although most of the resulting support is strictly earmarked and hence falls under voluntary contributions specified, in 2015, WHO established the Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) to allow rapid, effective responses to health emergencies. The generosity of our contributors makes CFE a rapid, flexible financing instrument. Contributions to CFE are pooled and, crucially, are flexible rather than earmarked for specific activities. TCFE can thus fund an initial response to the broadest possible range of health emergencies rapidly and effectively. In 2020–2021, donors contributed US$ 69 million to CFE.

As at 31 December 2021, more than US$ 2530 million had been implemented in emergency operations and appeals, which is US$ 1530 million over the approved budget level, to support emergency operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The large majority of funds were allocated and implemented at country level.

More details of the purpose, contributions and allocations to CFE can be found here:

  Contingency Fund for Emergencies

FUNDING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLIO ERADICATION SEGMENT

The budget segment for polio eradication is not fully controlled by WHO, which is one of six partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The budget, including WHO’s share, is set by the Initiative in its strategic plan. The Initiative is funded by a wide range of public and private donors that help meet the cost of eradication activities, which are implemented by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with countries and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

In 2020–2021, the approved programme budget for polio eradication was US$ 863 million. The largest share of the budget, funding and implementation is provided at country level and particularly in the African and the Eastern Mediterranean regions.

Special programmes segment funding and implementation

In 2020–2021, the approved programme budget for special programmes budget segment was US$ 208.7 million. This segment includes the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases; the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction; and the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework.

Although this segment is fully within WHO’s results hierarchy, over which WHO has executive authority, the special programmes have additional governance mechanisms and budget cycles that inform their annual and biennial budgets.

The funds for these special programmes are intended for specific purposes and cannot be used for any other programme. The large majority of the funds available were managed and implemented at headquarters; smaller amounts were implemented by regional and country offices in compliance with plans agreed upon for each programme.

HOW THE PROGRAMME BUDGET IS FUNDED

With available funding of US$ 7.9 billion, the overall programme budget reached 136% funding. Of this, 74% of the funds received were specified voluntary contributions, 6% were thematic voluntary contributions, and the remaining 20% was flexible funds (assessed contributions, programme support costs and core voluntary contributions).

Assessed contributions alone represented 16% of the approved programme budget and 12% of total funding for 2020–2021.

Overall, 497 contributors funded Programme budget 2020–2021 to an amount of US$ 7.9 billion. In the base budget segment, the Organization signed 657 specified voluntary contributions agreements, for an average size of US$2.2 million. This is less than in 2018-2019 (816) but for larger agreement amounts (US$1.8 million on average in 2018-2019). The average duration of grants (21 months) was slightly higher than in 2018-2019 (20 months) but lower than in 2015-2016 (24 months).

The top contributors contributed 73% of all funds available in 2020–2021. These contributors were Member States, partnerships, United Nations entities, intergovernmental organizations, development banks, philanthropic foundations and private initiatives. A large portion of specified voluntary contributions were received to support the response to the COVID pandemic and hence allocated and implemented through the emergency operations and appeals segment. The number of donor agreements skyrocketed in the emergency operations and appeals segment, reaching 655 in 2020-2021 (up from 335 in 2018-2019), for an average size of US$4.8 million (up from US$3.8 million).

The country level received the largest share of funds for implementation (US $4.3 billion or 57% of total). Of these, US $2.2 billion supported actions at country level within the emergencies operations and appeals segment related to the response to the pandemic.

Funding varied by strategic priority, budget segment and major office. SP1 consistently reached over 90% funding for all major offices, with voluntary contributions contributing more than 50% of total funding (except in the Region of the Americas). In contrast, several regions had low levels of funding for SP2 (the Americas and Western Pacific regions) and SP3 (the African, American and Eastern Mediterranean regions); in these cases, flexible and thematic funds made up most of the funding received for these strategic priorities. As aggregated funding masks issues that can be observed only at higher level of detail, SP2 and SP3 have limited funding and have struggled to attract voluntary contributions from donors.

The approved programme budget for emergency operations and appeals was US$ 1 billion for 2020–2021. As this segment is driven by events, the budget was not distributed a prior by major office but was assigned during the biennium to all major offices. Largely because of COVID-19 pandemic funding and implementation, spending exceeded the approved budget allocated for this segment in all major offices.

See the Programme budget portal for details on more disaggregated funding.

  Disaggregated funding

 FLEXIBLE FUNDS

Flexible funds is a group of three types of funds that allow the Director-General to strategically fund the Organization according to the priorities set out in the programme budget. The types of funds are: assessed contributions, programme support costs and core voluntary contributions. Allocation of flexible funds for programme budget results and across organizational structures is governed by principles set out in Executive Board document EB148/26.

Assessed contributions consist of assessed “dues” from Member States and Associate Members that are used to fund the programme budget. In 2020–2021, the net assessment provided WHO with US$ 956.9 million of assessed contributions.

Programme support costs constitute an indirect cost recovery mechanism (administrative and management costs) levied on each voluntary contribution (see background document). Total programme support costs made available for implementation in 2020–2021 amounted to US $364 million.

Core voluntary contributions are voluntary contributions to WHO that are fully flexible at the level of the programme budget. They offer flexibility for meeting otherwise unfunded requirements of all major offices and all technical programmes, enabling critical strategic management of resources to deliver the programme budget. In view of the Organization’s strong dependence on flexible funds, core voluntary contributions are used in conjunction with specified resources to leverage their full potential. The total revenue from core voluntary contributions in 2020–2021 was US$ 236.7 million, which represents a 57% increase over the level in 2018–2019 (US$ 150 million).

Flexible funds were distributed similarly across the three levels of the Organization, with 34% allocated at country level.

CORE VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS

In 2020–2021, WHO revenue in core voluntary contributions was US$ 236.7 million, received from 12 Member States. This represents a 57% increase compared with 2018–2019 (US$ 150 million).

Core voluntary contributions represent a vital source of predictable, flexible funding, fully aligned with the Programme Budget, that helps WHO to deliver on its Thirteenth General Programme of Work (2019–2023). Of these funds, 77% were used to deliver country support plans, 9% for global public health goods and 13% for leadership and research functions.

In view of their flexible, catalytic nature, core voluntary contributions were used in all WHO regions and global programmes in headquarters and for most technical outcomes.For more details on core voluntary contributions, donors and allocations see:

  Core voluntary contributions

Outcome: 1.1 Improved access to quality essential health services; 1.2 Reduced number of people suffering financial hardship; 1.3 Improved access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and devices for primary health care; 2.1 Countries prepared for health emergencies; 2.2 Epidemics and pandemics prevented; 2.3 Health emergencies rapidly detected and responded to; 3.1 Determinants of health addressed; 3.2 Risk factors reduced through multisectoral action; 3.3 Healthy settings and Health-in-All Policies promoted; 4.1 Strengthened country capacity in data and innovation; 4.2 Strengthened leadership, governance and advocacy for health; 4.3 Financial, human, and administrative resources managed in an efficient, effective, results-oriented and transparent manner; 10.1 Polio eradication and transition plans implemented in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; 13.2 Proven prevention strategies for priority pandemic-/epidemic-prone diseases implemented at scale; 13.3 Acute health emergencies rapidly responded to, leveraging relevant national and international capacities;

Core voluntary contributions are allocated as part of flexible funds managed by the Organization, particularly for technical outcomes (i.e. excluding enabling functions). About 50% of core voluntary contributions in 2020–2021 were allocated to outcomes 1.1 (33%), 2.3 (10%) and 4.1 (11%). Core voluntary contributions represented 18–27% of all flexible funds allocated for each technical outcome in 2020–2021.

ASSESSED CONTRIBUTIONS

In 2020–2021, the net assessment provided WHO with US$ 956.9 million of assessed contributions.

Assessed contributions are the most flexible, predictable source of funding for the Organization. As these are the "dues" that Member States pay, they are more predictable than any other fund. They can be fully allocated from the first day of the biennium, even if the cash has not been received; therefore, managers can use information on the allocation of flexible funds to their budget centres for planning before the biennium starts.

In 2020–2021, assessed contributions represented 16% of the total approved programme budget but only 12% of total funding received by WHO in 2020–2021.

In 2020–2021, 55% of assessed contributions were used for implementation of country support plans, 29% for functions, 6% for global public health goods and 9% for leadership functions in all regions and global programmes.

Outcome: 1.1 Improved access to quality essential health services; 1.2 Reduced number of people suffering financial hardship; 1.3 Improved access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and devices for primary health care; 2.1 Countries prepared for health emergencies; 2.2 Epidemics and pandemics prevented; 2.3 Health emergencies rapidly detected and responded to; 3.1 Determinants of health addressed; 3.2 Risk factors reduced through multisectoral action; 3.3 Healthy settings and Health-in-All Policies promoted; 4.1 Strengthened country capacity in data and innovation; 4.2 Strengthened leadership, governance and advocacy for health; 4.3 Financial, human, and administrative resources managed in an efficient, effective, results-oriented and transparent manner; 10.1 Polio eradication and transition plans implemented in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; 13.1 Countries operationally ready to assess and manage identified risks and vulnerabilities; 13.2 Proven prevention strategies for priority pandemic-/epidemic-prone diseases implemented at scale; 13.3 Acute health emergencies rapidly responded to, leveraging relevant national and international capacities; 14.1 Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR); 14.2 Special Programme of Research, Development and research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP)

Assessed contributions are allocated as part of the flexible funds managed by the Organization. As they are fully flexible, assessed contributions can also be used to finance enabling functions of the Organization, which are usually not financed by donors. The largest percentage (30%) was thus implemented to enable outcome 4.2 and 8% for outcome 4.3. The remaining 62% was implemented for technical outcomes, outcome 1.1 receiving the largest allocation.

THEMATIC VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS

In 2020–2021, WHO received US$ 513.5 million in thematic voluntary contributions. The top five donors of thematic funds contributed 87% of all thematic funding received in 2020–2021.

This type of fund is of increasing interest to donors, as they can earmark their donations to outputs or strategic priorities while still retaining flexibility for allocation according to need. These funds offer greater predictability and flexibility than specified voluntary contributions and are used by donors who are required to earmark their funds to a certain degree.

For more information on contributors, see

  Thematic voluntary contributions

Outcome: 1.1 Improved access to quality essential health services; 1.2 Reduced number of people suffering financial hardship; 1.3 Improved access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and devices for primary health care; 2.1 Countries prepared for health emergencies; 2.2 Epidemics and pandemics prevented; 2.3 Health emergencies rapidly detected and responded to; 3.1 Determinants of health addressed; 3.2 Risk factors reduced through multisectoral action; 3.3 Healthy settings and Health-in-All Policies promoted; 4.1 Strengthened country capacity in data and innovation; 4.2 Strengthened leadership, governance and advocacy for health; 4.3 Financial, human, and administrative resources managed in an efficient, effective, results-oriented and transparent manner; 10.1 Polio eradication and transition plans implemented in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; 13.1 Countries operationally ready to assess and manage identified risks and vulnerabilities; 13.2 Proven prevention strategies for priority pandemic-/epidemic-prone diseases implemented at scale; 13.3 Acute health emergencies rapidly responded to, leveraging relevant national and international capacities

Unlike fully flexible funds, thematic funds represent alignment of donor priorities with WHO priorities at output or higher level result. The outcomes that receive the most thematic funding reflect such alignment. In 2020–2021, outcome 1.1 received the most thematic funds (26%), followed by 11% for responses to acute health emergencies, which is part of the budget segment for emergency operations and appeals (included as outcome 13.3). Two other outcomes of SP2 (2.1 and 2.3) each received 11% of thematic funds, demonstrating a strong interest by donors of thematic funds in supporting the core functions of pandemic preparedness and response while building resilient health systems and improving access to good-quality, essential health services.

For more information on the amounts and fund flow to results and levels of the Organization, see

Unlike fully flexible funds, thematic funds represent alignment of donor priorities with WHO priorities at output or higher level result. The outcomes that receive the most thematic funding reflect such alignment. In 2020–2021, outcome 1.1 received the most thematic funds (26%), followed by 11% for responses to acute health emergencies, which is part of the budget segment for emergency operations and appeals (included as outcome 13.3). Two other outcomes of SP2 (2.1 and 2.3) each received 11% of thematic funds, demonstrating a strong interest by donors of thematic funds in supporting the core functions of pandemic preparedness and response while building resilient health systems and improving access to good-quality, essential health services.

For more information on the amounts and fund flow to results and levels of the Organization, see

  View Programme Budget Portal