<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The World Health Organization on Monday won basic approval for a $6.83-billion budget over the next two years, including a 20-percent hike in mandatory membership fees.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As the UN health agency kicked off its annual decision-making assembly, member states in a key committee approved the budget without objection.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the move as "historic and a big milestone".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The budget still needs to be approved by all the member states at the end of the 10-day event, but this is basically a formality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The decision comes after last year's assembly agreed to a dramatic overhaul of WHO funding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shaken by the Covid 19 pandemic, countries agreed on the need to provide more reliable and stable funding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The WHO is largely financed by its 194 member states.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The portion of funding from mandatory membership fees -- "assessed contributions" calculated according to wealth and population -- had dwindled to below one-fifth, with the rest coming from "voluntary contributions".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This left WHO with limited leeway to respond to crises like Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and other health emergencies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last year's assembly agreed to gradually increase the membership fee portion to 50 percent by the 2030-31 budget cycle at the latest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 2024-25 budget cycle marks the first incremental increase, with countries agreeing to hike their assessed contributions by 20 percent from the 2022-23 budget.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In return for the funding shift, WHO has begun implementing 96 reforms, including towards more transparency on its financing and hiring and broader accountability.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tedros told the assembly earlier Monday that WHO so far had implemented 42 of the requested reforms "and 54 are ongoing. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>