WHO mandated to lead global response against NCDs but funding lacking

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, writes that the "main outcome" of the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is an assignment for the WHO "to lead the global response to NCDs, develop a monitoring and evaluation framework, provide technical assistance and track progress towards global targets," but "it's another unfunded mandate while WHO is in the midst of a major reform, precipitated by funding cuts, related to global recession and to management and member country failure to protect contributions against currency exchange risks." Glassman looks at country contributions to the WHO in 2009 and concludes, "Given the significance of the U.S. contribution to WHO, a main question is whether and how the U.S. can play a role in moving the WHO reform forward" (9/20).