WHO worker crowd-funds for UN agency after Trump pulls US out

GENEVA: A World Health Organization staff member hopes to raise enough money through fundraising on social media to soften the impact of President Donald Trump pulling the United States out of the organisation, she told Reuters on Tuesday.

The "1 Dollar, 1 World" campaign is asking people around the world to give one dollar to the U.N. health agency that fights chronic and emerging diseases worldwide and to post a photo of themselves on social media with their index finger raised.

Tania Cernuschi, a WHO staff member of 10 years who has worked on improving vaccine access, said she thought of the campaign when she could not sleep after Trump's announcement.

"I felt frustrated, I felt disappointed," Cernuschi said in an interview at the U.N. agency's Geneva headquarters. "I was, as everybody I think, unsettled by the announcement," she said, saying funding cuts would cost lives.

The $1 billion she aims to raise roughly corresponds to what the United States, the agency's biggest donor, has given on average for each two-year budget, WHO data showed.

So far, Cernuschi's campaign had raised around $58,000, a fraction of the target, since last week's launch.

WHO staff member Tania Cernuschi poses after an interview with Reuters after launching the One Dollar, One World campaign to raise funding for the World Health Organization after U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the UN agency in Geneva, Switzerland, January 28, 2025. - REUTERS

Many early donors are senior WHO staff, including epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove who became one of the public faces of the agency during COVID, and donors based in wealthy countries like Switzerland and the United States.

That trend means the campaign might "come off as U.N. civil servants fundraising to protect their own salaries and work programs" said global health consultant Tina Purnat in a blog.

Asked to respond, Cernuschi said: "I think we're all privileged here. But we work for people who are not privileged, and that's why our work is important."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced support. "I'm proud of her. All the staff are saying we are part of the solution," he told Reuters.

Cernuschi, a 46-year-old Italian who has worked in public health for 25 years, said it was to be expected that people from richer countries gave more. Donations are now coming in from Ukraine, India and parts of Africa, she said, and referred to a message from an Indian woman.

"She said, 'You have an army behind you'. And it was very touching. And I felt it. I said, I wrote back: I feel the army."