EU blasts Trump’s WHO funding cut

Expert says freeze could have consequences for pandemic response

GENEVA—Countries around the world reacted with alarm Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization. Health experts warned the move could jeopardize global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

At a briefing in Washington, Trump said he was instructing his administration to halt funding for the WHO pending a review of its role “in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” The United States is WHO’s largest single donor, contributing between $400 million (U.S.) and $500 million annually to the Geneva-based agency in recent years.

Trump has repeatedly labelled COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” and criticized the UN health agency for being too lenient on China, where the novel virus first emerged late last year.

The WHO has been particularly effusive in its praise for China, calling on other countries to emulate its approach and repeatedly praising its transparency.

But China only agreed to a proposed WHO-led mission to investigate the coronavirus after WHO’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally paid a visit to Chinese President Xi Jinping, a highly unusual move to secure a country visit during an outbreak.

The European Union on Wednesday said Trump has “no reason” to freeze WHO funding at this critical stage and called for measures to promote unity instead of division.

Trudie Lang, a professor of global health research at Oxford University, said attempts to hinder WHO’s work could have significant consequences for the pandemic response.

“The reason we’re making such fast progress on diagnostics, vaccines and drugs is because of WHO’s role as a neutral broker,” she said. “It’s their role to bring together the best science.”

On Twitter, Bill Gates — whose foundation was the second-largest donor to the WHO for its latest two-year budget, contributing over $530 million in 2018 and 2019 — wrote that stopping funding for WHO during a world health crisis “is as dangerous as it sounds.”

“Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs WHO now more than ever,” Gates wrote.

Worldwide, the pandemic has infected nearly two million people and killed over 130,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, pushed back at Trump’s announcement.

“Placing blame doesn’t help,” he wrote on Twitter. “The virus knows no borders. We must work closely against COVID-19.”

Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, called Trump’s decision “extremely problematic.”