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STORY: WHO / US FUNDING
TRT: 03:39
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 MARCH 2025, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, press briefing room
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“The U.S. Administration has been extremely generous over many years, and of course, it’s within its rights to decide what it supports, and to what extent. But the U.S. also has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it is done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding.”
3. Wide shot, press briefing room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“We ask the U.S. to reconsider its support for global health, which not only saves lives around the world, it also makes the U.S. safer, by preventing outbreaks from spreading internationally.”
5. Wide shot, press briefing room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“And because health is wealth, fighting disease around the world supports global economic growth and stability, which benefits the U.S.”
7. Wide shot, press briefing room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“If the U.S. decides not to restore direct funding to countries, we ask it to engage in dialogue with affected countries so plans can be made to transition from reliance on U.S. funding to more sustainable solutions, without disruptions that cost lives.”
9. Wide shot, press briefing room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO:
“Whether or not U.S. funding returns, other donors will need to step up, but so too must countries that have relied on U.S. financing, to the extent they can.”
11. Wide shot, press briefing room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO:
“Our partners in the health cluster, our partners in the TB world are partners in HIV. We are all trying desperately to fill those gaps. The gaps are vast. They are huge. But we are trying to do this, and we will focus less on counting the dead and more on saving those who are still alive.”
13. Wide shot, press briefing room
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO:
“Our program, based on going from a budget of 1.2 billion, down to a budget of around 872, that will result in a 25 per cent contraction of the Emergencies Programme, now contracting by 25 to 28 per cent, sounds easy on paper, but the question is what do you want to stop doing? Do you want to stop doing Ebola? Do you want to stop doing emergency medical teams responding to major disasters in the world? Would you like to stop intelligence gathering so that we know what the next epidemic or pandemic will be? There are some terrible choices to be made.”
15. Wide shot, press briefing room
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO:
“We speak every day with colleagues in the United States, with institutions around the United States. They are the core of global public health. They are the heroes of disease control. We want them still involved in global response and global prevention. We need them to be still involved, but we may have to move on without them and without those resources. If we have to, we will be strong. We will survive. If the US reconsiders joining WHO, we'll be even stronger.”
17. Wide shot, press briefing room
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, WHO:
“Having the US side by side, working with us to see how we can grow, how we can improve our performance, that's the best way forward. The best way forward is not to go to the sidelines and get out of the game. You need to stay in the game if you want to win, and I think the US has choices to make, they are a sovereign country, and they have the right to make any choice that they see fit to make. We just hope that they see fit to make a choice that's in support of the American people and in support of the people of the world.”
19. Wide shot, press briefing room
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The U.S. Administration has been extremely generous over many years, and of course, it’s within its rights to decide what it supports, and to what extent. But the U.S. also has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it is done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding.”
Briefing journalists today (Mar 17) he also said, “We ask the U.S. to reconsider its support for global health, which not only saves lives around the world, it also makes the U.S. safer, by preventing outbreaks from spreading internationally.”
The Director-General added, “And because health is wealth, fighting disease around the world supports global economic growth and stability, which benefits the U.S.”
He also said, “If the U.S. decides not to restore direct funding to countries, we ask it to engage in dialogue with affected countries so plans can be made to transition from reliance on U.S. funding to more sustainable solutions, without disruptions that cost lives.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged,“Whether or not U.S. funding returns, other donors will need to step up, but so too must countries that have relied on U.S. financing, to the extent they can.”
Michael Ryan, Executive Director of Health Emergencies Programme at WHO said,
“Our partners in the health cluster, our partners in the TB world are partners in HIV. We are all trying desperately to fill those gaps. The gaps are vast. They are huge. But we are trying to do this, and we will focus less on counting the dead and more on saving those who are still alive.”
Ryan also said, “Our program, based on going from a budget of 1.2 billion, down to a budget of around 872, that will result in a 25 per cent contraction of the Emergencies Programme, now contracting by 25 to 28 per cent, sounds easy on paper, but the question is what do you want to stop doing? Do you want to stop doing Ebola? Do you want to stop doing emergency medical teams responding to major disasters in the world? Would you like to stop intelligence gathering so that we know what the next epidemic or pandemic will be? There are some terrible choices to be made.”
The Executive Director shared, “We speak every day with colleagues in the United States, with institutions around the United States. They are the core of global public health. They are the heroes of disease control. We want them still involved in global response and global prevention. We need them to be still involved, but we may have to move on without them and without those resources. If we have to, we will be strong. We will survive. If the US reconsiders joining WHO, we'll be even stronger.”
He added, “Having the US side by side, working with us to see how we can grow, how we can improve our performance, that's the best way forward. The best way forward is not to go to the sidelines and get out of the game. You need to stay in the game if you want to win, and I think the US has choices to make, they are a sovereign country, and they have the right to make any choice that they see fit to make. We just hope that they see fit to make a choice that's in support of the American people and in support of the people of the world."
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