TY - JOUR T1 - The WHO Foundation should not accept donations from the alcohol industry JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-008707 VL - 7 IS - 5 SP - e008707 AU - June Yue Yan Leung AU - Sally Casswell Y1 - 2022/05/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/5/e008707.abstract N2 - Summary boxThe WHO Foundation, established to fundraise for WHO, does not explicitly preclude funding from the alcohol industry, exposing WHO to potential influence by the industry’s conflicting interests.The WHO Foundation’s Gift Acceptance Policy also lacks transparency, preventing public scrutiny of donations.To protect the independence and integrity of WHO, the WHO Foundation should not accept any donations from the alcohol industry.WHO needs further resources to implement stronger safeguards against alcohol industry interference, as shown in its development of an action plan (2022–2030) to effectively implement the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.At WHO’s Executive Board meeting in January 2022, Member States failed to agree on increasing their share of mandatory financial contributions to WHO, leaving the organisation dependent on private sources of funding.1 The recent establishment of the WHO Foundation (WHOF) has further laid bare the potential risks of WHO attracting funding from corporate actors, whose profit-driven mandate may influence the integrity and independence of WHO’s work. Launched in 2020, the WHOF was created as an independent entity with the explicit intention of fundraising for WHO by ‘engaging in areas where WHO is not traditionally structured to engage’, including with the private sector.2 Meanwhile, Member States decided to recommend that the World Health Assembly adopt WHO’s draft alcohol action plan (2022–2030) to effectively implement the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.3 WHO’s global alcohol action plan is the product of a 2 year … ER -