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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Is the Gates Foundation the largest non-government funder of the World Health Organization?

Friday, June 5, 2020

By Anna Lenaker

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YES

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation currently funds just over 12% of the World Health Organization’s operations, making it the second biggest donor to the WHO after the U.S. If the United States permanently withdraws funding, the foundation would become the largest single donor. The Gavi Alliance, a public-private partnership that supports vaccine development, is the WHO's next-largest donor, just ahead of the U.K. The Gates Foundation has given Gavi $4 billion since launching it in 1999.

In 2014 the WHO's then-director general, Dr. Margaret Chan, acknowledged that “my budget is highly earmarked, so it is driven by what I call donor interests.” However, the WHO is formally controlled under a UN charter by the World Health Assembly, composed of delegates from sovereign nations, who pay assessments and elect the director general.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

World Health Organization: Contributors

Gavi: Partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

New York Times: Interview with WHO director general

WHO: Governance

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.