Trump halts funding to World Health Organization
By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he is halting funding to the World Health Organization while his administration reviews the group’s handling of the coronavirus, accusing it of bungling the response and failing to communicate the disease’s threat.
The move follows weeks of Trump’s escalating attacks on the U.N. health organization as he has sought to deflect scrutiny of his own administration’s slow response to the outbreak.
The U.S. contributes more than any other country to WHO, at more than $400 million per year. Cutting off funds to the group, which has a $4.8 billion annual budget, will be a major blow to the organization as it conducts vaccine trials, distributes test kits and advises governments around the world.
“With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” Trump said during his nightly press briefing.
Read more at https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/trump-world-health-organization-funding-186786
‘Now is not the time!’ UN chief says WHO is ‘critical’ in global war against Covid-19 as US cuts funding to probe its ‘China ties’
15 Apr, 2020
The United Nations has urged continued support for the World Health Organization (WHO) as countries around the globe battle the coronavirus pandemic, just hours after US President Donald Trump froze American funding to the agency.
The WHO and its thousands of staff are fighting the health crisis on the front lines, supporting the most vulnerable nations with “concrete life-saving services,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
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.
While Guterres made no mention of the US, the statement came soon after President Trump announced a pause on the WHO’s funding, freezing up to $500 million in annual aid over concerns that the health body mismanaged its response to the pandemic, and even accusing it of “covering up” the extent of the coronavirus outbreak on behalf of Beijing. US funding will remain on hold as the administration conducts a “review” into the WHO’s actions, Trump said, arguing the agency helped to relay Chinese “misinformation” about Covid-19 and its ability to spread between humans.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/news/485832-un-chief-who-funding/
