US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (April 14) halted his country's funding for World Health Organisation (WHO), saying Washington will put the funding on hold till a review is being conducted in the WHO's "role in severely mismanaging and covering up" the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 after it emerged in Chinese city of Wuhan.
"Today I'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization. We will redirect global health and directly work with others. All of the aid that we send will be discussed at very, very powerful letters," Trump said during a press conference.
Notably, the US is the biggest single funder of WHO, providing USD 400 million in 2019 - around 15% of the total budget of the global health body.
President Trump has been openly critical of the WHO, accusing the world health body of not showing urgency to take actions despite being aware of the dangers of the coronavirus. "The WHO failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable," added Trump.
According to President Trump, the mismanagement by WHO led to a 20% increase in coronavirus cases across the world.
In an indirect attack on China, Trump also said that everyone knows what is happening there?
It would not be wrong to say that WHO is largely dependent on the funding it receives from the US for its operations. After the US, China is the second biggest funder of the global body and in 2019 it had provided Rs 650 crore to the WHO.
Though the US administration is also to be blamed for the spread of coronavirus in the country but it would be wrong to not ask tough questions from the WHO and hold it accountable for its 'failures' in curbing the spread of coronavirus.
It may be recalled that on January 14, 2020, the WHO had claimed that coronavirus is not transmitting due to contact between humans. The WHO had made the claim despite the admission by Wuhan Health Commision that it would be wrong to say that coronavirus is not spreading from one human to another.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is facing severe criticism in the US and other countries due to his failure to take proper measures at the right time and for supporting China.
It may be recalled that Dr Tedros travelled to China in January to meet President Xi Jingping and praised China for taking measures to check the spread of coronavirus. But 45 days after Dr Tedros' praise for China, the world has lost over one lakh lives due to COVID-19.
Dr Tedros is a resident of Ethiopia and he was appointed WHO chief in July 2017. Notably, China had supported Dr Tedros' campaign to become the WHO chief and had voted in his favour. China had also helped Dr Tedros in getting the votes of some other nations. Critics are claiming that Dr Tedros is now paying back to China by praising Beijing for its efforts against coronavirus.
Despite facing flak from global community for its mishandling of coronavirus crisis, the WHO is seeeking Rs 7,500 crore as additional aid from international community.
Several US senators have also come out in open slamming the WHO for siding with China and exposing the world to the risk of coronavirus infection. Some American senators have written a letter to WHO chief Dr Tedros and have sought answers of some questions from him.
Experts said that the letter written by senators could become the basis for a probe against WHO. The senators have mentioned in the letter the US Congress could hold a hearing in connection with this matter because the funds which the US gives to WHO is the money of ordinary Americans.
The US senators have also sent a copy of the letter to the UN chief. The senators have asked six questions from the WHO. Here are the six questions:
1. What has the WHO done to contain the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic?
2. What are the standards set up by WHO to deal with coronavirus crisis?
3. When was WHO informed about coronavirus infection in China for the first time?
4. When did the WHO team visit China to probe this matter?
5. Who was monitoring the emerging situation due to coronavirus at WHO and who was talking with Chinese government over this matter?
6. Were the WHO staff paid money by some external sources except their salary?
WHO has its offices in 147 countries across the world and the WHO was formed around seven decades ago to protect the world from epidemic and pandemic. Though the WHO has succeeded in controlling several epidemics in the past, its failure on controlling coronavirus has put the global health body in a tough spot.
