The World Health Organization is bracing for a major funding shortfall. With the United States pulling its voluntary contributions, WHO is now planning to cut its global budget by 21%. That’s over a billion dollars gone. Just like that. For wealthier countries, this might be a bureaucratic shuffle. For nations like Pakistan, it’s a potential disaster.
We know what happens when WHO support dries up because we’ve seen what happens when it’s there. Every time a polio campaign launches in Pakistan, more than 40 million children are vaccinated, many in hard-to-reach or conflict-affected areas. That massive effort is backed by WHO coordination, field presence, and funding. When floods strike, when outbreaks spread, when hospitals need technical guidance-WHO has been a constant partner. This isn’t theoretical support; it’s the real-world scaffolding propping up parts of our public health system.
The pandemic laid that bare. When COVID-19 spread across the country, we used WHO-backed labs, relied on WHO-trained staff, and funneled calls through repurposed polio helplines. In moments when our own system felt overwhelmed, WHO was one of the few anchors keeping response efforts steady.
Now that anchor is under strain. And once again, it’s not due to some technical failure or budget miscalculation. It’s politics. One country, albeit a powerful one, decided to walk away, and the rest of the world is left to plug the holes.
This should be a wake-up call for Pakistan. We can no longer afford to build our health security on foreign goodwill. Yes, international partnerships matter. But resilience starts at home. Our health budgets need more than token increases. Public health needs to be treated not as a donor-driven formality, but as a national priority.
At the same time, we need regional solutions. SAARC has long been dormant, and OIC has rarely ventured into practical health cooperation but both offer platforms that can be revived for the times we’re living in. A pooled emergency health fund, for example, could help cushion countries from sudden shocks like this one.
When the global health system falters, countries like Pakistan feel it first and worst. We’ve been warned! *