A WHO spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the email.
The WHO will be freezing recruitment “except in the most critical areas,” the director general wrote. Travel expenditure will be significantly reduced, with all meetings to be virtual by default without “exceptional approval.” Office refurbishments and expansions will also be suspended.
Trump’s plan to leave the WHO, one of a flurry of executive orders the incoming president signed on his return to office this week, left the WHO scrambling to replace its top donor. The US contributed US$1.3 billion ($1.75 billion) to the organisation between 2022 and 2023, helping the WHO carry out its work on containing diseases such as HIV, polio, Ebola and a recent outbreak of lethal Marburg virus.
