On Tuesday, President Trump announced that he would hault the United States funding of The World Health Organization. Trump said that there is a need to “assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” He especially criticized the WHO’s praise of China’s actions to combat the virus. China has come under fire for their initial mismanagement of the virus, as officials tried to cover up the outbreak.
However, The New York Times writes that while Trump is accusing of the WHO of mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has made many key misteps. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bungled the rollout of diagnostic tests in the United States, even as the WHO was urging every nation to implement widespread testing. And the White House was slow to endorse stay-home restrictions and other forms of social distancing, even after the WHO advised these measures were working in China.”
The United States provided about 15% of the WHO’s funding in 2019. Many officials are condeming Trump’s decision to hault funding in a vital time of the pandemic. Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the European Union tweeted, “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 to help contain & mitigate the #coronavirus pandemic. Only by joining forces we can overcome this crisis that knows no borders.”
Time Magazine reports that the hault of funding at this time will have devastating consequences for countries with underdeveloped healthcare systems who rely on WHO funding. “Currently, the U.S. accounts for 27% of polio eradication activities, 23% of health emergency preparedness and response, 19% of vaccine-preventable diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria.”
Once again, Trump is putting political gain ahead of human lives.