Backlash after Trump orders WHO fund cut
Criticism was heaped on US President Donald Trump yesterday after he ordered a freeze on funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO), with friends and foes of the United States calling for solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus and its crushing economic impact. In poorer and densely populated parts of the world, many governments are still struggling to enforce restrictions on movement that are piling misery on the poor and spreading hunger.
US President Donald Trump’s move to halt funding to the World Health Organisation over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic prompted condemnation yesterday from world leaders as recorded global infections passed the 2mn mark.
Trump, who has reacted angrily to accusations his administration’s response to the worst epidemic in a century was haphazard and too slow, had become increasingly hostile towards the UN agency before announcing the halt on Tuesday.
He said the WHO, which is based in Geneva, had promoted China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak than otherwise would have occurred.
The WHO’s special envoy for the outbreak, David Nabarro, said yesterday that any recriminations should be left until after the virus has been defeated.
“If in the process you decide you want to declare that you’re going to withdraw funding or make other comments about the WHO, remember this is not just the WHO, this is the whole public health community that is involved right now,” he said in a webinar without naming the United States or Trump.
“Every single person in the world is a public health worker now, everybody is taking responsibility, everybody is sacrificing, everybody is involved,” Nabarro said.
A US official told Reuters that Trump made the move despite pushback within his administration, especially from top health advisers.
Trump accused the WHO of failing to investigate credible reports from sources in China’s Wuhan province, where the virus was first identified in December, that conflicted with Beijing’s accounts about the spread.
“The WHO failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable,” he told a White House news conference on Tuesday, saying the organization had “parroted and publicly endorsed” the idea that human to human transmission was not happening.
The United States is the biggest overall donor to the WHO, contributing more than $400mn in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.
The international health body has been appealing for more than $1bn to fund operations against the pandemic.
The total number of world infections yesterday reached 2,001,548 cases after Britain reported its latest figures.
The virus has killed 131,101 people, according to a Reuters tally.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said now was not the time to cut resources for the WHO: “Now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.”
“The United States of America has been a long-standing and generous friend of the WHO and we hope it will continue to be so,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. “We regret the decision of the president of the United States to order a halt in the funding to the WHO.”
He said the agency would assess its performance in the crisis as it does after every such occurrence. “In due course WHO’s performance in tackling this pandemic will be reviewed by WHO’s member states and the independent bodies that are in place to ensure transparency and accountability,” he said.
In addition to fighting Covid-19, the WHO helps many of the world’s poorest and vulnerable people who are struggling with diseases and other conditions, Tedros said. Its programmes include polio, measles, malaria, Ebola, HIV, tuberculosis, malnutrition, cancer, diabetes, and mental health, he added.
Tedros added: “WHO is reviewing the impact on our work of any withdrawal of US funding and we will work with partners to fill any financial gaps we face and to ensure our work continues uninterrupted.”
But now was the time for the world to be united in its common struggle against the outbreak, which he described as a “dangerous enemy”.
Dr Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said that there would be opportunities in coming weeks and months to discuss WHO’s budget with its other 193 states.
“We are laser-focused on doing a very important job and that is suppressing this virus and saving lives,” Ryan said.
“There are so many thousands of brave front line workers doing that in the world today. This is all hands on deck. There is no public, no private sector. Everybody has something
to bring to the table.”
China, which has won WHO praise for its actions to curb the virus’s spread, yesterday urged the United States to fulfil its obligations to the WHO.
“This decision weakens the WHO’s capability and harms international cooperation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter: “Deeply regret US decision to suspend funding to WHO. There is no reason justifying this move at a moment when their efforts are needed more than ever.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he sympathised with Trump’s criticisms of the WHO, especially its “unfathomable” support of re-opening China’s “wet markets”, where freshly slaughtered, and live, animals are sold.
“But that said, the WHO also as an organisation does a lot of important work including here in our region in the Pacific and we work closely with them,” Morrison told an Australian radio station.
“We are not going to throw the baby out of with the bathwater here, but they are also not immune
from criticism.”
In its latest Strategy Update, the WHO said the world stands at a “pivotal juncture” and countries that ease restrictions should wait at least two weeks to evaluate the impact before easing again.
US health advocacy group Protect Our Care said Trump’s WHO funding withdrawal was “a transparent attempt...to distract from his history downplaying the severity of the coronavirus crisis and his administration’s failure to prepare our nation”.
African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat tweeted yesterday: “The USgovt decision to suspend funding to @WHO is deeply regrettable. Today more than ever, the world depends on WHO’s leadership to steer the global #Covid_19 pandemic response.”
“Blaming others won’t help. The virus knows no borders,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wrote on Twitter.
“One of the best investments is to strengthen the UN, above all the under-financed WHO...in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines.”
French government spokeswoman
Sibeth Ndiaye said: “This is a decision we regret”, adding that Paris was hoping for “a return to normal” so the WHO can continue its work.
In Moscow, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “It is a sign of the very selfish approach of the US authorities to what is happening in the world due to the pandemic.”
“Such a blow to this organisation just when the international community is looking towards it... is a step worthy of condemnation and every reproach.”
“The shameful defunding of WHO amid a pandemic will live in infamy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
“The world is learning what Iran has known & experienced all along. US regime’s bullying, threatening & vainglorious blathering isn’t just an addiction: it kills people.”
“The last thing we need now is to attack the WHO,” former WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland said in a statement to AFP.
“This means weakening our central global institution,” said the 71-year-old doctor and former Norwegian prime minister.