Trump Insisting On Ending WHO Funding Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic

Illustration of the WHO office in Geneva (WHO doc.)

JAKARTA - President of the United States (US) Donald Trump, shocked state leaders and health experts. He announced that he would stop funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), amid the global pandemic COVID-19.

Quoted by Reuters, Trump made threats to stop funding for the WHO. He reasoned that WHO was not responsive while investigating and dealing with COVID-19 cases, since it first appeared in Wuhan, China. Trump also accused WHO of being too China-centric in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Had WHO done its job to bring medical experts to China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to address China's lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been stuck at its source with very few deaths," Trump said.

President @ realDonaldTrump is halting funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess WHO's role in mismanaging the Coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/jTrEf4WWj0

- The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 14, 2020

The same thing was also expressed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He was even more outspoken, claiming that the WHO refused to immediately call COVID-19 a pandemic due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party not to want that to happen.

On the other hand, WHO has responded to these allegations by urging countries not to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO Director General (Dirjen) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also regretted the US President's decision to withdraw funds for the organization because now the world must unite in its fight against COVID-19.

"If you don't want to see more body bags, then you don't politicize it. My short message is: Please stop the politicization of COVID-19. The unity of your country will be very important to defeat this dangerous virus," Ghebreyesus said.

In fact, the US contributed more than 400 million US dollars to WHO in 2019, or about 15 percent of the WHO budget. A senior administration official said the US would cut off the US $ 58 million worth of funding it was supposed to pay for 2020.

In addition, the US also routinely provides several hundred million dollars per year in voluntary funding related to certain WHO programs. It is likely that these funds were allocated for other purposes as well.

"The money will be shared with other partners," said a senior Trump administration official.

WHO has asked for more than US $ 1 billion specifically to fund operations against COVID-19 which has reached 2 million confirmed cases, including more than 131,000

The next country that had the largest contribution to WHO funding was the UK, which paid dues and contributions of US $ 434.8 million, followed by Germany and Japan. Meanwhile, China contributed nearly 86 million US dollars.

The next biggest contributor besides the state is a foundation, namely the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a private organization in the US. The foundation's owner, Bill Gates, also commented on Trump's decision to cut funding to the WHO.

"Their work is to slow the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace it. The world needs @WHO now more than ever," the Microsoft founder said in a tweet.

Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @ WHO now more than ever.

- Bill Gates (@BillGates) April 15, 2020

In January, precisely when the COVID-19 outbreak began to spread, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation promised to provide funds of up to US $ 100 million to help contain the outbreak.

The funds, the foundation said, will be used to help find vaccines, limit their spread and improve detection and treatment. About $ 20 million was donated to several health organizations including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO.