Executive Summary
2024-25

The Programme budget 2024–2025 is the third and last of the extended Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13). It carries the ambitious task of getting WHO back on track to achieve the triple billion targets, while providing continuity and stability for the final phase of GPW 13 implementation.


The Programme budget 2024–2025 has three main overarching objectives:

  1. Strengthen country capacity to accelerate progress towards the triple billion targets;
  2. Continue the work defined by the recent revision of the Programme budget 2022–2023;
  3. Further strengthen accountability and transparency, incorporating guidance from the Agile Member States Task Group. 

 

The Programme budget 2024–2025 has been shaped using data and evidence but also through a stronger consultative and participatory process, starting from a bottom-up prioritization at the country level. This has resulted in strengthening both priority-setting and country focus, as well as steps to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency. A better linkage between the prioritization and the budget costing has been established.

 

The Programme budget 2024–2025 amounts to US$6,834 million and is presented in four segments:

  • Base Programmes: US$4,968 million;
  • Polio Eradication: US$694 million;
  • Special Programmes: US$172 million; and
  • Emergency operations and appeals: US$1,000 million. 

 

 

 


 

The budget of the base programmes segment, which is the largest and embodies WHO's core mandate, remains unchanged with respect to the revised Programme budget 2022–2023. Budget of the Special programmes and Emergency operations and appeals segments remain stable while Polio Eradication sees a 2% increase with respect to the approved Programme budget 2022–2023. Half of the base programmes budget is allocated to countries – a significant first for a programme budget.  

 

 

 

Programmatically, the Programme budget 2024–2025 maintains the same results framework to report on that GPW 13 represented with the 12 outcomes and 42 outputs. WHO integrated results framework serves as an organizing backbone for programmatic work and budgeting; it also reflects the interconnected nature of the triple billion targets of the GPW 13, reinforced by the lessons learned of the COVID-19 pandemic. Narratives of the results framework, as well as the respective deliverables, have been updated to represent more clearly the Secretariat’s commitments towards its Member States, while considering the lessons learned prompted by the Programme budget revision of 2022-2023.

 

For its enabling functions, the WHO Secretariat will continue investing in strengthening leadership, accountability, compliance and risk management with a special focus on the Organization’s capacity in prevention of and response to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, in line with the revised Programme budget 2022-2023 and ongoing discussions with Member States.

 

Going forward, WHO Secretariat is actively engaging with Member States to improve the way it presents its Programme budget, both in format and in content, while also enhancing its monitoring systems for better accountability. All these actions will be complemented by the deliverables as committed in the WHO Secretariat’s implementation plan on reform (EB152/34), which has been prepared in consultation with Member States during the Agile Member States Task Group discussions that took place over the course of 2022.


 

 

Projected financing for the base segment of the Programme budget 2024-2025,
in US$ millions (as at May 2025)