Listen again · In Conversation
Who Shapes Global Health Cooperation? October 8, 2026 · 5:50 · With Maya and Grace
The next World Health Organization leader will take office in 2027. The choice comes as countries are also discussing how to fund the WHO and how to work together on future pandemics.
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Maya This is Slow English FM, with a conversation about global health. I’m Maya. Grace covers health and medicine. Welcome, and thanks for listening. Maya The next World Health Organization leader will take office in 2027. The choice comes as countries are also discussing how to fund the WHO and how to work together on future pandemics. Grace, how does the leadership process work? Grace The WHO says the process began on April 24, 2026, when its Director-General invited member states to put forward candidates. The deadline was September 24. The WHO plans to publish the candidates’ names and proposals at the beginning of November, after the last regional committee meeting of the year. Maya So the candidates are not yet publicly listed under that plan. What happens after they are announced? Grace The WHO Executive Board reviews the candidates and nominates up to three. Then the World Health Assembly appoints the Director-General. The Assembly includes all WHO member states. The appointment is due in May 2027, and the new leader is due to take office on August 16, 2027. Maya The WHO’s leadership page describes a formal process. But why might this race matter beyond the person who gets the job? Grace The BMJ has described the race as a test of global health cooperation. That is an interpretation, not a formal measure. The evidence here points to some of the questions a new leader will face: how the organization is funded, and how countries share information and benefits during a pandemic. The leader will work within decisions made by member states; the role does not replace them. Maya Let’s take funding first. What is the issue, and what does “assessed contribution” mean? Grace It is an amount that WHO members are required to pay each year. The United Nations calculates each country’s share mainly from its gross domestic product, with an adjustment for WHO membership. The WHO says these payments have provided less than 20 percent of its financing for several years. The rest has come from voluntary contributions. Maya Why does the balance matter? Is it fair to say that more required funding would give the WHO more independence? Grace That would be an interpretation, and it needs care. The WHO has said that a plan approved by member states in 2022 aims to raise assessed contributions from 20 percent to 50 percent of its base budget. The first increases came in 2023 and 2025, with more planned for 2027, 2029, and 2031. A reasonable reading is that the plan would increase the share coming from required payments. The figures alone do not establish how that would affect the WHO’s independence or priorities. Maya A second area is the WHO Pandemic Agreement. What has been agreed, and what is still being worked out? Grace The agreement was adopted on May 20, 2025. But one part, called the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, is still being negotiated. A pathogen is something that can cause disease, such as a virus. The proposed system aims for countries to share pathogens with pandemic potential in a timely way, and to share fairly the benefits from using them and related genetic sequence information. Maya In simple terms, countries would share information about dangerous pathogens, and there would also be rules about sharing benefits. Is that right? Grace Yes. The WHO describes both parts as aims of the proposed system. The details are not final. The agreement says that it does not give the WHO power to impose lockdowns or vaccine requirements on countries. Countries that join would remain responsible for carrying out the agreement under their own authority. Maya And the agreement cannot move fully into the next stage until that system is settled? Grace The WHO says countries can sign and ratify the agreement after the system’s annex is adopted. So the negotiation is a practical part of putting the agreement into effect. It also shows why cooperation is difficult: countries are being asked to share information and benefits, while keeping national authority over how they act. Maya What should listeners watch for as the leadership process continues? Grace The WHO plans to publish the candidates and their proposals at the beginning of November. Those proposals may help show how each candidate approaches funding and cooperation. The later decisions on the pandemic agreement’s annex will also matter. But the information available now does not tell us what any candidate will do once in office. Maya That was Grace on the WHO leadership race and the questions around global health cooperation. I’m Maya. Thanks for listening to Slow English FM.
