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The head of the World Health Organization told its executive board Monday that WHO needs to scale back its operations and concentrate on areas where it can make the most impact. "We are not functioning at the level of top performance that is increasingly needed, and expected," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "This organization is over-extended. We are constantly asked to do more and more. This has a limit. We are there."
In addition to fighting disease, improving primary health care, promoting vaccination and responding to disasters, WHO has taken on the global tobacco industry and monitors leading food, alcohol, and agri-business companies. Though it has had success in areas such as battling tropical diseases, "this is not the case in all the areas covered by our last program of work," said Chan.
The board is reviewing a proposed program budget of $4.54 billion for 2010-11 - a figure that was cut from $5.84 billion in the wake of the global financial crisis. WHO's program budget in 2008-09 was $4.23 billion.
Given the "serious funding shortfalls" facing WHO and other health financiers such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the vaccine coalition GAVI, it is critical to avoid duplication of efforts, Chan said.
"The level of WHO engagement should not be governed by the size of a health problem. Instead, it should be governed by the extent to which WHO can have an impact on the problem. Others may be positioned to do a better job," said Chan. "In some areas, our engagement should be that of a watchdog."
"WHO needs to change at the administrative, budgetary, and programmatic levels," Chan noted, calling on its 193 member states to help shape the overhaul.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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