The World Health Organization’s contest for a new leader is taking place after the exit of the US, its former largest financial contributor. Washington formally left in January, ending a 78-year membership since 1948 after President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal. The US had covered about 22% of the agency’s annual budget and owes about US$260 million in unpaid assessed contributions.
China has nominated health official Song Li to become director-general. If elected, she would be the first person from mainland China to head the United Nations health agency.
The US departure has forced a sharp retrenchment at the WHO. It cut its 2026–2027 base budget by 21%, from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
The organisation also consolidated its headquarters departments from 76 to 34. Its workforce fell by 2,371 through layoffs and resignations between January 2025 and June 2026.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the current director-general, called 2025 “one of the most difficult years in WHO history.” He is completing his second five-year term and cannot stand again under WHO rules.
As the WHO cut back, China increased its financial commitments. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong pledged an additional $500 million over five years at the World Health Assembly in May last year.
China’s assessed contribution rose 57%, from $87.59 million in 2025 to $137.83 million in 2026. It now has the highest assessed rate among remaining member states, at 20.005%.
Song has worked in maternal and children’s health for more than two decades. She previously served as director general of the Department of Women and Children’s Health at China’s National Health Commission, and has overseen women’s and children’s health administration in the central government since 2002.
She earned a master’s in obstetrics and gynecology from Shandong Medical University and a doctorate in public health from Peking University. She also worked at the emergency response center during the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003.
Since October 2023, Song has been a member of the secretariat of the All-China Women’s Federation.
Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, confirmed Song’s nomination on Thursday. Mao said that, if elected, Song would “help the WHO play a more positive role in improving the health and well-being of all humanity.” She said multilateralism was under pressure and that global health faced “a long and arduous journey”, making the director-general’s role particularly important as the agency navigates new changes.
Song is among a field that includes Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al-Kuwari of Qatar, Dr. Hanan Balkhy of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Hans Kluge of Belgium, Dr. María Neira of Spain, Indonesian candidate Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Dr. Gevorg Tamamyan of Botswana.
The WHO executive board will meet in late January and early February to cut the field to three candidates. The World Health Assembly is set to elect the next director-general in May.
China previously backed Margaret Chan, a Hong Kong-born doctor and former director of health of Hong Kong, who led the WHO from 2007 to 2017.
The vote will choose a successor at an agency undergoing a financial and organisational overhaul, while China takes on a larger share of its remaining assessed contributions.
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