WHO Results Report 2020-2021
Invest in WHO
Invest for a healthier world
A healthy return - Investment case 2022
For more than 70 years, WHO has been the cornerstone of the global health architecture and has played the leading role in improving global health during a period of unprecedented improvement in human well-being and longevity. Today, improved health outcomes and the value of human capital is increasingly recognized from an economic perspective. Spending on health is an investment which underpins the quality of life, happiness and prosperity.
The return on investment in WHO is substantial. The cost of WHO in net present value terms over the coming 10-year period, 2022–2031, is US$ 33 billion and the public value created as a result of this investment, in the most conservative estimation possible, is likely to be more than US$ 1 trillion. For every US$ 1 invested in WHO, the return on investment is US$ 35.
There has never been a more critical moment to invest in WHO, and strengthen the unique role it plays in global health. Now is the time to sustainably finance WHO and invest in a healthy return for all.
The world needs a strengthened, empowered and sustainably financed WHO, at the centre of the global health architecture. To ensure that our structures,...
Investment case 2019
WHO has launched an ambitious, but achievable, five-year strategic plan: the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13 2019-2023). It focuses on a Triple Billion target: to provide a billion more people with universal health coverage, to protect one more billion people from health emergencies and to provide a further billion people with better health and well-being.
The funds needed to achieve the GPW were estimated at US$ 14.1 billion in WHO’s first ever Investment Case. This amount has been revised up to US$ 14.4 to cover additional funding needed for polio eradication.
This investment case describes how a stronger, more efficient and results-oriented WHO can serve and guide governments and partners in their efforts to improve the health of their populations and to achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
WHO will leave no one behind
As humanity’s most precious resource, health is priceless, and it requires our investment. WHO, as the global guardian of public health, needs sufficient, predictable and flexible funding -- including from innovative financing models and diverse funding streams -- so that it can be agile in its work with partners to create health and well-being for all.
The results of the implementation of WHO’s five-year strategic plan will be thanks to the joint action of WHO Member States and other partners. WHO’s catalytic role focuses global health leadership, impact in countries and global public goods.
The Constitution of WHO states, “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition”. Seventy years after these words were adopted, they are as relevant as ever. Understanding health as a human right entail being accountable to international standards.
