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The leader of the W.H.O. expressed dismay at President Trump’s decision to cut funding amid the crisis
The leader of the W.H.O. expressed dismay at Trump’s decision to cut funding.
As the world continues to grapple with how to move forward from the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump announced Tuesday that his administration was halting payments to the World Health Organization, the public health body at the forefront of the global response to the virus.
With nearly two million cases of the virus confirmed globally and at least 126,000 deaths, the pandemic is far from over, and other world leaders swiftly condemned Mr. Trump’s decision.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the W.H.O., expressed dismay over the loss of funding at a news conference on Wednesday. The United States is the W.H.O.’s biggest donor, contributing more than $400 million a year, about 10 percent of the organization’s budget.
“With support from the people and government of the United States, the W.H.O. works to improve the health of many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people,” he said.
“W.H.O. is not only fighting Covid-19,” he added. “We are also working to address polio, measles, malaria, Ebola, H.I.V., tuberculosis, malnutrition, cancer, diabetes, mental health and many other diseases and conditions.”
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, warned that, with the global health agency “on the front lines” of the crisis, it is not the time to halt funding.
“It is my belief that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against Covid-19,” he said, referring to the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, criticized the decision with a pointed message to Mr. Trump. “It doesn’t help to blame,” he wrote on Twitter. “The virus knows no borders.”
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the United States to fulfill its obligation to the W.H.O. at a critical time.
The African Union chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called the move “deeply regrettable.”
“Our collective responsibility to ensure WHO can fully carry out its mandate, has never been more urgent,” he wrote on Twitter
The W.H.O. is responsible for much more than epidemic response, and it now finds itself financially imperiled by its newfound place in the cross-hairs of American domestic politics.
