US President Donald Trump said in a press conference that he is going to stop the funding of WHO from the US. Trump believes that WHO has failed in their basic duty in the information of the coronavirus outbreak. The US is the single biggest contributor to WHO. Last year, the US contributed around $500 million.

He accused the UN agency of hiding the coronavirus outbreak form the entire world when it emerged in China. Trump said that the WHO is very “China-centric”.

Trump’s Argument

At the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing, Trump said that WHO was wrong about a lot of things. They were aware of a lot of information but they didn’t want to share, they seemed to be very “China-centric”. 

WHO would have aware us months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into the things carefully and we are going to put a hold on funds to the WHO. The hold is going to be very powerful.

But when the Trump was asked that is it right to hold the funds for WHO in this crisis. He replied, “No maybe not, but we will look into this.”

US President Donald Trump

WHO Response

As the response of this statement, the UN chief said that it is not the right to stop the funding of WHO amid this crisis. President Trump acted too slowly after getting aware of coronavirus outbreak. He is defending his criticism to shift the blame of thousands of the American deaths by accusing us. 

Tedros Adhanom, Director general of the World Health Organization

What people have to say

According to a New York Times report that Trump’s trade advisor warned in a memo late in January that the virus can make the millions of Americans suffer and cost trillions of dollars. 

Susan Rice, a former national security adviser, told the Washington Post that Trump’s missteps “cost thousands of the American lives. On April 7, the Trump further took coronavirus lightly by comparing it with the common flu even after thousands of death in America.

President Trump was repeatedly ignoring the alert of the coronavirus outbreak and now is blaming China, said the Obama administration.

Germany’s foreign minister tweeted that strengthening the “under-funded” WHO was one of the best investments that could be made at this time.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community should be uniting “in solidarity to stop this virus”.

“I believe that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19,” he said.

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, said on Twitter: “Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.”

 

About WHO and it’s Fund

  • UN agency is responsible for global public health.
  • Found in 1948 and based in Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Consists of 194 member states, and aims to “promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable”
  • Deal and control the vaccination campaigns, health emergencies and supporting countries in primary care
  • Funded by several different countries in a combination of members’ fees based on wealth and population and voluntary contributions
  • The US provided 15% of its 2018-19 budget – with more than $400m
  • China gave about $86m in 2018-19; UK gives most of any country apart from the US

WHO Appeal

The WHO did an appeal in March for $675m to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. They are now planning a fresh appeal for at least $1bn. Whether the US will resume funds or not and the decision will be taken after the review, which Trump said would last 60-90 days.

Impact of suspending the Funds

On April 15, WHO is now reviewing the impact of the suspended funds. In the daily press briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the organisation is also reviewing the impact because of the suspended funds on the pandemic.

He assured the transparency and accountability will be maintained of the review by member states. The purpose of  a review is to highlight the areas of the improvement. It will also help in learning lessons from them. But currently, our main focus is to deal with this pandemic.

“WHO is grateful to the many nations, organizations and individuals who have expressed their support and commitment to WHO in recent days, including their financial commitment,” said Dr Ghebreyesus.

Managing the Crisis

On April 14, US President Donald Trump said in a press conference that he is going to stop the funding of WHO from the US. Trump believes that WHO has failed in their basic duty in the information of the coronavirus outbreak.

Responding to Trump’s announcement, the WHO chief said that right now they are only focussing on saving lives. There is no time to waste. Ghebreyesus on Twitter tweets a response plan and strategy which says that the health agency is working to serve all people.