UNITED States (U.S.) President Donald Trump’s move to halt funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic prompted condemnation from world leaders as recorded global infections passed the two million 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 U.S. is the biggest overall donor to the WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget. The international health body has been appealing for more than $1 billion to fund operations against the pandemic.
The total number of world infections reached 2,001,548 cases after Britain reported its latest figures. The virus has killed 131,101 people, according to a Reuters tally.
The WHO’s special envoy for the outbreak, David Nabarro, said 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.
“There is no time to waste,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter, following Trump’s decision, adding that the organisation’s “singular focus is on working to serve all people to save lives and stop the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The WHO head said yesterday that he regretted Trump’s decision to pull funding for the organisation, but called on world unity to fight the new coronavirus pandemic.
“The U.S. has been a long-standing and generous friend of the WHO and we hope it will continue to be so,” WHO Director-General told a news conference.
“We regret the decision of the President of the U.S to order a halt in the funding to the WHO.”
WHO was still assessing the impact and would “try to fill any gaps with partners”, Tedros said.
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”.
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Trump also earned a rebuke from UN chief Antonio Guterres and billionaire Bill Gates, who tweeted that cutting funding was “as dangerous as it sounds”.
Beijing, who has been the focus of Trump’s finger-pointing for weeks, warned the move would “undermine the international cooperation” at a “critical moment” in the pandemic.
The European Union’s foreign policy leader Josep Borrell was similarly disapproving of a move he said lacked any justification.
African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat condemned Trump’s decision as “deeply regrettable”.
A U.S. official told Reuters that Trump made the move despite pushback within his administration, especially from top health advisers.
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.”
China, which has won WHO praise for its actions to curb the virus’s spread, 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.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the WHO was essential to tackling the pandemic.
“At a time like this when we need to be sharing information and we need to have advice we can rely on, the WHO has provided that,” she said.
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.
John Sawers, the former head of Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service, said China concealed crucial information about the outbreak from the rest of the world and that it would be better to hold China responsible rather than the WHO.
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