WHO rolls out early retirement option to slash costs ahead of planned US exit

Bengaluru: The World Health Organization is offering the option of voluntary early retirement to eligible employees as it seeks to rein in costs ahead of a planned exit by the United States, its biggest financial backer.

The voluntary early retirement package is being offered to staffers at all duty stations, the WHO said in a statement emailed on Friday.

The scheme is intended for staff above 55 and those who accept would have to leave the agency by July 15, it said.

The WHO, which typically receives about a fifth of its overall annual funding from the U.S., has been forced to freeze hiring and initiate budget cuts ever since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal.

The U.S. funded 75per cent of the WHO's program for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and accounted for more than half the contributions it received to combat tuberculosis during the agency's 2024-25 budget period.

Trump, who started a 12-month withdrawal process for the U.S. to leave the WHO earlier this year, has said he may consider rejoining the agency.

Bloomberg News was the first to report the WHO's early retirement program.

Trump also ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid contributions, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos. But the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to let the administration withhold payments to foreign aid organizations for services already rendered to the government. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)