The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled new guidance to help countries respond to the devastating impact of sharp cuts in external health funding, which have disrupted essential services in more than 100 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The new framework, titled “Responding to the health financing emergency: immediate measures and longer-term shifts,” provides a set of policy options aimed at protecting critical health services, improving efficiency, and promoting sustainable domestic financing for national health systems.
According to WHO, external health aid is projected to drop by between 30% and 40% in 2025 compared to 2023, a reduction that has already caused severe disruption in the delivery of essential health services.
WHO survey data from 108 LMICs collected in March 2025 indicates that funding cuts have reduced vital programmes such as maternal care, vaccination, emergency response, and disease surveillance by as much as 70% in some countries.
More than 50 nations have also reported job losses among healthcare workers and disruptions to training programmes.
“Sudden and unplanned cuts to aid have hit many countries hard, costing lives and jeopardising hard-won health gains,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“But in the crisis lies an opportunity for countries to transition away from aid dependency towards sustainable self-reliance, based on domestic resources.”
Dr. Tedros emphasized that the new WHO guidance will help countries “better mobilise, allocate, prioritise and use funds to support the delivery of health services that protect the most vulnerable.”
The guidance urges policymakers to treat health as both a political and fiscal priority, even during financial crises recognising that investment in health contributes to economic resilience, social stability, and human dignity.
Among the key policy recommendations by WHO are: Prioritise health services accessed by the poorest, Protect health budgets and essential services, Improve efficiency through better procurement and reduced overheads, Integrate externally-funded programmes into comprehensive primary health care models and Use health technology assessments to maximise the health impact per dollar spent.
Several countries have already taken steps to strengthen their health financing systems.
Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have either increased or proposed higher health budgets, while Ghana has lifted its excise tax cap for its national health insurance agency, resulting in a 60% budget increase. Uganda has also outlined policies to integrate and sustain essential services.
WHO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting countries through technical assistance, data analytics, and peer learning initiatives, including the forthcoming Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Knowledge Hub, a partnership with Japan and the World Bank set to launch in December 2025.
This new guidance builds on WHO’s ongoing mission to strengthen global health financing and ensure universal health coverage for all, grounded in resilient primary healthcare systems.
