GENEVA — The World Health Organization said its workforce would shrink by nearly a quarter – or over 2,000 jobs – by the middle of next year as it seeks to implement reforms after its top donor, the United States, announced its departure.

US President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the body upon taking office in January, prompting the agency to scale back its work and cut its management team by half.

Washington is by far the UN health agency’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding.

The Geneva-based WHO projects that its workforce will shrink by 2,371 posts by June 2026 from 9,401 in January 2025 due to job cuts as well as retirements and departures, according to a presentation set to be shown to its member states on Wednesday.

It does not include all the temporary staff and consultants which UN sources say have been made redundant.

A WHO spokesperson confirmed the total number of staff leaving the organization and said the workforce would shrink by up to 22%, depending on how many vacant posts are filled.

While the global health agency said in August that hundreds of staff had departed, this is the first time it has given the full scale of the expected change to its global staff.

“This year has been one of the most difficult in WHO’s history, as we have navigated a painful but necessary process of prioritization and realignment that has resulted in a significant reduction in our global workforce,” said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a message to staff on Tuesday seen by Reuters, adding that the process was now nearing an end.

“We are now preparing to move forward with our reshaped and renewed Organization,” he added.

The slides also showed that the Geneva-based body has a $1.06 billion hole in its 2026-2027 budget, or nearly a quarter of the total required, down from an estimated gap of $1.7 billion in May.

That excludes some $1.1 billion of expected funding that includes deals at various stages of negotiation, the slides showed, without giving details.

The WHO spokesperson said that the portion of the two-year budget currently unfunded was lower than in previous years, attributing that to a smaller budget; the launch of a fund-raising round; and an increase in member states’ mandatory fees. — Reuters

TOKYO — Within days of China urging its citizens not to travel to Japan due to a diplomatic dispute, Tokyo-based tour operator East Japan International Travel Service had lost 80% of its bookings for the remainder of the year.

The small firm, which specializes in group tours largely for Chinese clients, is at the sharp end of a backlash that threatens to deal a sizeable blow to Japan’s economy, the world’s fourth largest.

The travel warning – triggered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China – has seen a wave of flight cancellations and battered tourism-related stocks in Japan.

“This is a huge loss for us,” said Yu Jinxin, vice president of East Japan International Travel Service.

Tourism accounts for around 7% of Japan’s overall gross domestic product, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, and has been a major driver of growth in recent years. Visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong account for around a fifth of all arrivals, official figures show.

The boycott could result in a loss of around 2.2 trillion yen ($14.23 billion) annually, Nomura Research Institute estimates. Tourism-related stocks in Japan have sunk since the warning was issued on Friday.

Already more than 10 Chinese airlines have offered refunds on Japan-bound routes until December 31, with one airline analyst estimating around 500,000 tickets have already been cancelled.

NO SIGNS OF IMMINENT BREAKTHROUGH
Ms. Takaichi sparked the most serious diplomatic dispute in years between Asia’s top two economies when she told Japanese lawmakers this month that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response.

A wave of vitriolic responses by a Chinese diplomat in Japan and Chinese state media aimed at Ms. Takaichi prompted Japan to warn its citizens in China on Monday to step up safety precautions and avoid crowded places.

Beijing has demanded Ms. Takaichi retract her remarks, though Tokyo has said they are in line with the government’s position, suggesting no breakthrough is imminent.

China has also suspended the screenings of upcoming Japanese films, and Japanese celebrities popular there have tried to pre-empt any potential backlash.

“China is like my second homeland to me and all my friends in China are my cherished family—I will always support One China,” Japanese singer MARiA wrote on Weibo on Tuesday.

Tour operator Ms. Yu says her company has been able to weather past flare-ups between the neighbors, such as Tokyo’s decision to nationalize disputed islands in 2012 that triggered mass anti-Japan protests across China.

But a protracted crisis this time could be devastating, she said.

“If this lasts for one or two months, we can manage, but if the situation continues to worsen, it will obviously have a major impact on our business.” — Reuters