China has pledged to give an additional $500 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) over the next five years in a bid to plug the funding gaps left behind by its top donor US’s funding cuts.
This was announced by China’s Vice Premier of the State Council, Liu Guozhong, who addressed the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday.
“The world is now facing the impacts of unilateralism and power politics, bringing major challenges to global health security… Multilateralism is a sure path to addressing difficulties,” Liu told delegates.
The WHO revised down its 2026-2027 budget by 21% to $4.2 billion due to its financial difficulties, caused mainly by the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding, while there is an increase in countries’ mandatory fees by 20% over the next two years. China’s new pledge would make China the WHO’s new top state donor.
Other New WHO Donors
Similarly, a non-profit foundation, The Novo Nordisk Foundation, also pledged to provide up to 380 million Danish kroner ($58 million) from this year to 2028.
The nonprofit foundation, which awards grants in health, sustainability, and the life science ecosystem, holds 77% of the votes and 28% of the shares in pharma giant Novo Nordisk through Novo Holdings.
Announcing the move, “WHO plays a unique role in the global health ecosystem, providing normative guidance, monitoring diseases, building country capacity for resilient health systems and supporting learning and evidence,” Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, said in a release.
