London/ Geneva: The World Health Organization is planning to relocate four units, will pull back from some work, and has seen more than 400 staff depart as it copes with budget cuts sparked by the U.S. move to quit the agency, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The documents propose relocating some functions from its Geneva base, including some of the health emergencies team to Berlin; some of the operations and logistics unit to Dubai; the health workforce and nursing department to Lyon in France by January, as well as traditional medicine functions to Jamnagar, India, by July 2026.
The agency has bases in those locations focused on those areas.
The relocations could save as much as $3.3 million annually, although there will be an initial outlay to make the moves happen, the WHO said in the documents. Around 31% of staff, or almost 3,000 people, were based in Geneva as of January 2025.
The agency’s funding squeeze was sparked by the U.S. decision to leave the agency, announced on day one of Trump’s presidency in January this year.
The WHO cut its 2026-2027 budget by 21%, to $4.2 billion, in May, and has already halved its management team.
The documents, shared with member states and observers this week, also suggest pulling back on some areas of work in WHO regional offices.
The WHO Europe region would rely more on the team at headquarters for some non-communicable disease work, and the Western Pacific region will stop work on sexual and reproductive health, sanitation and adolescent health, with plans to leave it instead to other U.N. agencies such as the U.N. Population Fund or UNICEF.
A WHO spokesperson confirmed that 409 of the agency’s roughly 9,450 global staff had left the agency since January due to natural attrition, contracts not being renewed, and staff taking voluntary early retirement.
The spokesperson said that the WHO also expects 600 job cuts in Geneva on top of those who have left globally.
He did not comment specifically on the details in the documents, but said any relocations were based on making the agency more “agile and efficient” and to prevent the fragmentation of divisions in multiple locations.
“This is done in order to strengthen our core mission and activities, and at the same time capitalize on any efficiencies, including cost savings, that can be made,” he added by email. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London and Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Alison Williams)
