President Donald Trump made an announcement on Tuesday, April 14, stating that the US has suspended funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its alleged role in mishandling and concealing the spread of the coronavirus.
The US President emphasized that a review is currently underway, and criticized the UN agency for failing in its basic duty. He also pointed out the WHO’s opposition to travel restrictions from China and other nations as one of their “most dangerous and costly decisions.”
“Today I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.
“American taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million per year to the WHO and in contrast, China contributes $40 million a year or even less.
“As the organisation’s leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability. One of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable.
“Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death,” he told reporters.
“This would have saved thousands of lives and avoided worldwide economic damage. Instead, the WHO willingly took China’s assurances to face value… and defended the actions of the Chinese government.
“With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible.”
WHO executive director Dr Michael Ryan had initially praised China for its ‘transparency’ with the coronavirus outbreak in January. However, recent US intelligence reports suggest that China had provided false information about the outbreak, and the actual death toll is believed to be much higher than reported.
During the press briefing, Trump directly accused China of covering up the threat of coronavirus, in contrast to a tweet he sent on January 24.
‘China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi!’
President Trump’s decision to halt US funding to the WHO comes shortly after the Director-General of the international health organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom, accused him of ‘playing politics’ with the crisis.