United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Partner in global health
Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) Campaign to Golweyn Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Daynile District, Somalia. September 2022.
This content was last updated on 5 June 2023.
Setting global health priorities
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have long partnered with WHO to tackle the world’s most pressing health challenges, with a focus on UN Sustainable Goal 3: better health and well-being for all.
On 22 May 2023, during the 76th World Health Assembly, the UK launched its Global Health Framework outlining the shared objectives across the UK government to strengthen global health security, reform the global health architecture, strengthen health systems in the UK and globally, with strong leadership in health science and technology.
Recognizing that WHO is uniquely placed to lead and coordinate the world’s response to health emergencies and to protect and promote the health of all people, the Global Health Framework indicates that the UK will continue to support the WHO and strengthen it as an institution, and that the UK remains committed to a strengthened WHO that is more efficient, accountable, effective and sustainably financed. A Case Study included in the framework on WHO’s collaboration highlights the strategic importance of WHO to the UK development strategy.
Like the Global Health Framework Strategy, the 2022 UK development strategy underpins joint health priorities for the UK-WHO partnership, focusing on honest, reliable investment through British Investment Partnerships, providing women and girls the freedom they need to succeed, stepping up lifesaving humanitarian work and leading on climate change, nature and global health.
Guided by these strategies and building on the existing partnership, the UK-WHO collaboration aims to play a leading role in improving health globally and building resilience to future threats. WHO thanks the British people for their generosity and unwavering support.
United Kingdom: Top contributor of fully flexible voluntary contributions in 2020–2021
During 2022, the UK remained the top funder to the Core Voluntary Contributions Account (with more than US$ 123 million) The UK was also the top contributor to that account in the last biennium (with more US$ 135 million).
In addition to contributing with this voluntary fully flexible funding, the UK has recently made commitments to priorities ranging from the health workforce to antimicrobial resistance.
Ensuring that WHO is fully funded to respond to emergencies within 24 hours is another high priority for the UK, which is one of 27 donors to WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies.
See more about the current UK support to WHO in the programme budget portal.
See the Core voluntary contributions account 2022 annual report.
Note: The amounts represent the revenue received by WHO for the period stated and they might differ from the figures in the WHO Budget Portal, as they represent funds available net of programme support costs.
Emergency response and pandemic preparedness
The UK is a steadfast supporter of WHO’s work in emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this support translated into important funding of the COVID-19 strategic preparedness and response plan and other critical work such as the ACT-Accelerator, a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.
Combatting misinformation
WHO and the UK have joined forces to raise awareness of misinformation around COVID-19 and encourage individuals to report false or misleading content online.
This cooperation started with the joint Stop the Spread campaign in May-June 2020, through a partnership with the BBC, to encourage the use of trusted sources such as WHO and national health authorities for accurate COVID-19 information. The joint campaign broadened to include action on How to report misinformation online supporting actively WHO's efforts to address the spread of inaccurate and harmful information during the pandemic; a campaign broadly supported by WHO’s corporate social media and engagement channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp and YouTube).
Antimicrobial resistance
New treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis
The United Kingdom’s Fleming Fund has contributed more than US$ 17 million in a multi-year commitment to WHO to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR), caused by the misuse of antimicrobials in health or in the food chain. AMR compromises our ability to treat infectious diseases. The UK lobbies for international action on AMR, including collaborative leadership from the Tripartite on AMR: WHO, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Significant successes in global collaboration include the establishment of the UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group on AMR and the launch of the Tripartite Joint Secretariat to implement their recommendations. The Tripartite also launched the Multi-Partner Trust Fund to take forward in-country action on AMR.
Protecting health in a changing environment
In June 2019 the United Kingdom’s government committed to spending its development assistance in line with the Paris Climate Agreement as part of a wider government commitment to deliver net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
WHO made important progress in its work on reducing environmental threats to health and has supported Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and United Republic of Tanzania to address climate change, and water and health, with funding from the United Kingdom. In Ethiopia, climate-resilient water safety plans were implemented in 31 water supply systems, covering more than 1 million people. WHO is scaling up work in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Nepal to strengthen surveillance systems and develop early warning systems for cholera and other climate-sensitive diseases.
Building a stronger, results-oriented WHO
Regular performance reviews build investment confidence in WHO as the guardian of global public health. The United Kingdom supports the WHO transformation agenda and invests in WHO’s organizational capacity. Consistent and routine evaluations have anchored organizational learning in WHO’s work, helping improve its performance. WHO also developed new ways to engage relationships and build partnerships with governments, civil society, and multilateral organizations to expand its reach and achieve its goals. Strengthening WHO’s commitment to transparency, accountability and compliance will enable WHO to fulfil its mission, manage its resources, and deliver value for money.
Polio eradication and transition
The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to complete the eradication and containment of all wild, vaccine-related and Sabin polioviruses, such that no child ever again suffers paralytic poliomyelitis.
During the 2019 World Health Summit, a call was made to finish the job of eradicating polio and support countries to develop transition plans so that functions previously supported by the Initiative are integrated into national health programmes. Efforts are underway to embed polio activities within the broader immunization and comprehensive surveillance functions and outbreak and emergency response. Sustainable transition strategies are included the “Immunization Agenda 2030” for the next decade.
WHO collaborating centres in the United Kingdom
The UK hosts 60 WHO collaborating centres, institutions such as research institutes, universities or academies, which are designated by the Director-General to carry out activities in support of the Organization's programmes.
Among them are top global institutions that share data and lend their expertise to WHO in areas such as nursing, occupational health, communicable diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases and health technologies.
Public Health England (PHE) is a strong partner, with nine collaborating centres, in the areas of global health security, mass gatherings, antimicrobial resistance research, special pathogens, chemical exposures, radiation protection, and nursing and midwifery.
WHO's Health Emergencies team partners with PHE in areas including capacity building, knowledge transfer, quality assurance for outbreak, simulation exercise management, human resources exchange and emergency.