US to freeze funds to WHO until it commits boost by next month

Washington DC, May 19: "I will make temporary freeze of US funding to World Health Organisation permanent, if the WHO doesn't commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days," US President Donald Trump warned the WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.

 

US president, in a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, levied a series of allegations that the global health entity overlooked or ignored various warning signs about the coronavirus and criticized its stance toward China during the pandemic.

 

 

"We do not have time to waste," he wrote. "That is why it is my duty, as President of the United States, to inform you that, if the World Health Organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization."

 

Trump also said that he cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America's interests.

 

Besides that, the letter also echoes Trump’s previous complaint that the WHO resisted issuing a travel advisory in the early days of the outbreak. Trump criticized the WHO for praising China's domestic travel restrictions but later questioning his administration's international travel restrictions.

 

The president also cited the WHO's assertion in January that the virus could not be spread through human-to-human transmission. Trump also accused the WHO saying, that the organization has failed to publicly call on China to allows independent investigation into the origins of the virus, despite the recent endorsement for doing so by its emergency committee.

 

Trump also highlighted that the organisation also calls for an investigation into the origins of the virus, which is necessary for the world to understand how best to counter the disease.

 

The president froze US funding for the WHO on 14th April accusing it of being too close to Beijing and covering up and mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic. However, the US administration has already paid the WHO about $58 million.

 

Earlier, Trump also called the UN health body a ‘puppet’ of China saying, "The United States pays them $450 million a year; China pays them $38 million a year, and they’re a puppet of China. They’re China-centric, to put it nicer. But they’re a puppet of China."

 

Meanwhile, the WHO chief has promised an independent review of the global pandemic response, after countries at a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly called for a probe on Monday. The United States is the worst-hit country with more than 1.5 million coronavirus cases reported and at least 90,000 deaths.