The World Health Organisation (WHO) opened its Annual Assembly in Geneva on Monday, May 19, 2025, with a key focus on the formal adoption of a long-anticipated “International Pandemic Treaty”.
Developed at record speed in response to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the agreement aimed to prevent the kind of chaos seen in the global scramble for medical supplies.
The gathering also aimed to ensure fairer distribution of vaccines in future health crises.
The treaty is scheduled for formal adoption on Tuesday.
However, several contentious details remain unresolved and are expected to be negotiated separately over the next year as part of an annex to the treaty.
These include, for instance, how vaccine manufacturers obtain pathogens with pandemic potential and what the countries that provide them receive in return.
The World Health Assembly brings together delegates from the WHO’s 194 member states and is the organisation’s main decision-making body.
The WHO finds itself at a crossroads after the U.S., currently the organisation’s biggest donor, announced it will leave in early 2026.
It said that a move that would cut nearly one-fifth of the UN health agency’s budget.
In response, the WHO had already announced sweeping cost-cutting measures, including staff reductions.
Germany said on Sunday it would increase its support for the WHO by an additional €10 million ($11.2 million) to help fill the gap left by the U.S. exit.
Germany had already supported the WHO with approximately €290 million over 2024 and 2025, according to government figures.
Meanwhile, the WHO has said that it is forced to reduce the number of employees due to a lack of money, and the number of departments will be reduced from 76 to 34.
The Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this on Monday.
“As you know, we have been engaging in a major structural realignment, guided by an in-depth analysis of priorities.
The prioritisation exercise has informed the development of a new streamlined structure for headquarters, which reduced the executive management team from 14 to 7.
The number of departments from 76 to 34, Tedros said in a report to the World Health Assembly.