Germany contributes further €40 m to WHO’s work in health emergencies

30 / 09 / 2023

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• Sustainable Development

Germany contributed a further €40 million to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s work in health emergencies, with half of the funds for emergencies in Africa and Ukraine.

Of the new €40 million contribution, €20 million goes to the WHO Health Emergencies Appeal 2023, €10 million to the Ukraine emergency, €10 million for emergencies in Africa.

With the new contribution, Germany has provided €53.5 million so far this year to support WHO’s response to more than 50 active health emergencies.

This deepened Germany’s longstanding engagement with WHO as Germany has also signed a deal to host the Berlin-based WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

 “This is important because climate disasters, conflicts, and the ongoing pandemic demand urgent action,” said Susanne Baumann, State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office for Germany (GFFO), whose delegation met with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Our support is flexible and vital for saving lives around the globe.”

Through the GFFO, the country provides substantial funding to humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine, Yemen, and to Ebola responses in Africa.

Germany is an all-time top donor to WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE), having contributed €115 million since the CFE’s inception in 2015. The contributions have made a significant impact on the health of people caught up in humanitarian crises; this year alone, CFE funding allowed WHO to bring immediate, lifesaving support to victims of floods in Libya, conflict in Sudan, cholera and diphtheria outbreaks, and earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.

Thursday’s meeting also featured the signing of a host agreement for the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. The Hub was established with Germany’s support in Berlin in September 2021 to provide the world with better data, analytics and decisions to detect and respond to health emergencies.

Coinciding with the signing of the host agreement, the German government held the high-level conference “Pandemics: no time for neglect,” which focused on political priorities and actions on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, along with financing for resilient health systems.

“After last week’s historic political declaration at the UN General Assembly committing to stronger collaboration, investments, and governance to prevent, prepare, and respond to future pandemics, I am appreciative of Germany’s leadership leveraging the political momentum to host this high-level forum,” Dr Tedros said. “We must continue the dialogue to align on strengthening and financing health systems.”