WHO donors in 2019 – Setting the agenda for Global Health?

On 29 June 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a document (A73/INF./3, 29 June 2020), entitled, “Voluntary contributions by fund and by contributor, 2019“. Total voluntary contributions to WHO’s Total General Fund in 2019 amounted to $2,443,961,432; in 2018, total voluntary contributions were $2,243,377,613.

Contributions to the Fiduciary Fund for 2019 amounted to $46,346,264; this represents a decrease from the 2018 figure of $56,838,177. The Fiduciary Fund provides support for programs such as the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, the Global Health Workforce Alliance, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and the WHO Staff Association.

Total voluntary contributions to the WHO in 2019 amounted to $2,491,819,770, as compared to $2,290,914,412 in 2018, $2,139,305,475 in 2017 and $1,751,810,509 in 2016. In 2019, WHO received $748,573,365 for outbreak and crisis response; in 2018 WHO received $615,998,108 for outbreak and crisis response.

Here is a non-exhaustive list detailing the sources of voluntary contributions to the WHO General Fund and the size of their respective contributions in 2019.


United States of America: $333,642,879
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $226,337,804
Gavi Alliance: $230,120,648
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: $215,422,287
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA): $149,745,190
Germany: $143,157,993
European Commission: $140,008,191
Rotary International: $86,559,824
World Bank: $74,005,754
Japan: $54,718,42
United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF): $51,110,769
Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation: $50,255,380
Norway: $43,504,254
Democratic Republic of Congo: $40,037,800
Kuwait: $31,789,910
National Philanthropic Trust (NPT): $30,096,016
Canada: $29,189,807
Sweden: $28,926,078
Republic of Korea: $24,600,419
Netherlands: $23,659,982
Unitaid: $20,296,997
Pakistan: $20,000,000
Russian Federation: $18,927,026
India: $18,285,959
King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center, KSrelief: $18,247,734
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): $16,776,205
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM): $15,718,411
Cameroon: $14,789,732
Australia: $13,431,958
Nigeria: $12,401,414
Italy: $12,353,686
France: $11,774,449
Switzerland: 11,604,387
United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS): $11,585,064
Luxembourg: $11,382,123
Wellcome Trust: $10,233,998
Bloomberg Family Foundation: $9,334,708
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA): $8,859,001
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): $8,455,482
Sanofi Pasteur: $8,096,740
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS): $7,391,637
Denmark: $7,384,364
China: $6,433,265
Hoffmann-La Roche and Co., Ltd.: $6,232,482
Carter Center: $6,200,000
Belgium: $6,192,040
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): $5,740,613
Sanofi-Aventis: $4,424,320
Sequirus: $3,434,980
Italy: $3,415,158
Spain: $3,406,558
Liberia: $3,286,000
Kobe Group (Hyogo Prefecture Kobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Kobe Steel, Ltd.): $3,000,000
New Zealand: $2,913,442
CDC Foundation: $2,844,154
United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP): $2,617,891
Rockerfeller Foundation: $2,514,994
Gilead Sciences Inc.: $2,452,100
St Jude Children’s Research Hospital: $2,321,900
Kazakhstan: $2,060,135
AO Foundation, Switzerland: $2,004,008
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): $1,901,969
Bayer AG: $1,864,181
Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain: $1,834,817
Finland: $1,772,566
Nippon Foundation: $1,725,000
African Union: $1,741,667
Government of Flanders, Belgium: $1,614,857
Sindh, Pakistan: $1,399,931
Indonesia: $1,255,018
Merck & Co.,Inc.: $1,214,156
Korean Foundation for International Healthcare –Dr Lee Jong-Wook Memorial: $1,150,760
International Organization for Migration (IOM): $1,100,872