Global reaction to Trump withdrawing WHO funding

 

U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with recovered coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients and family members in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed his administration to temporarily halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the COVID-19 disease pandemic.

 

Trump said the WHO had "failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable". He said it promoted China's "disinformation" about the coronavirus that was likely to have led to a wider outbreak of disease.

 

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

 

* CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY

China urged the United States to fulfil its obligations to the WHO. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected nearly 2 million people globally, was at a critical stage and that the U.S. decision would affect all countries.

 

* GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER HEIKO MAAS

"Apportioning blame doesn't help. The virus knows no borders," Maas said on Twitter on Wednesday.

 

"We have to work closely together against #COVID19. One of the best investments is to strengthen the @UN, especially the under-funded @WHO, for example for developing and distributing tests and vaccines."

 

* NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN

"At a time like this when we need to be sharing information and we need to have advice we can rely on, the WHO has provided that. We will continue to support it and continue to make our contributions," she said.

 

* AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON

Morrison said he sympathised with Trump's criticisms of the WHO, especially its support of re-opening China's "wet markets", where freshly slaughtered animals are sold and where the outbreak first appeared in the city of Wuhan late last year.

 

"But that said, the WHO also as an organisation does a lot of important work including here in our region in the Pacific and we work closely with them," Morrison said.

 

"We are not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, but they are also not immune from criticism and immune from doing things better."

 

* U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES

"Not the time" to reduce resources for WHO operations.

"Now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences," he said.

 

* MIKE BLOOMBERG, FOUNDER OF BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES

"Withholding funding from the WHO is an attempt by the president to shift blame for his own failures to prepare our country for this crisis – and tragically, it will lead to more suffering and death around the world.

 

"While the president points fingers, others are taking action. We must do everything we can to help them, and Congress must not let this dangerous decision stand."

 

* PETER PIOT, DIRECTOR OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

"Halting funding to the WHO is a dangerous, short-sighted and politically motivated decision, with potential public health consequences for all countries in the world, whether they are rich or poor.

 

"This pandemic is not over anywhere until it is over everywhere. Strong support from the United States has always been key for WHO's effectiveness, and must continue."

 

* CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Pierre Somse, CAR'S health minister, said Trump's move was "a regrettable decision that will have harmful effects on the functioning of the WHO and on world health, because the WHO supports many countries in the health sector."

 

* CHAIRMAN, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

"With each passing day of this worsening crisis, the president is showing us his political playbook: blame the WHO, blame China, blame his political opponents, blame his predecessors - do whatever it takes to deflect from the fact that his administration mismanaged this crisis and it’s now costing thousands of American lives," Democratic representative Eliot Engel.

 

* U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Directed requests for comment to the White House.

 

* AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

Dr. Patrice Harris called it "a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier" and urged Trump to reconsider.

 

* JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY

"The move sends the wrong message during the middle of a pandemic," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases expert and senior scholar.

 

Adalja said the WHO does make mistakes, as it did in delaying the response to the Ebola outbreak in 2013 and 2014 in West Africa. He said reforms may be needed, but that work needs to take place after the pandemic has passed.

 

"It's not the middle of a pandemic that you do this type of thing," he said.

 

Adalja said the WHO collects information about where the virus is active in every county in the world, which the United States needs to help guide decisions about when to open borders.

 

* MELINDA GATES, CO-CHAIR OF BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

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

 

* DAVID HEYMANN, FORMER SENIOR WHO OFFICIAL AND CURRENT PROFESSOR AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

"The strength of WHO is that it is able to bring together public health experts from around the world to exchange information, review scientific evidence, and make evidence based consensus recommendations on disease prevention and control. 

 

"I have no doubt that WHO will continue to work in this manner during the COVID-19 pandemic."

 

* SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT BRITAIN'S LEEDS UNIVERSITY

Stephen Griffin, a Leeds professor, described Trump's move as "perhaps one of the least productive, most short-sighted, self-motivated and hypocritical acts I have ever witnessed".

 

"The situation in the U.S. and the world over amounts to a crisis, and one in which we must stand together. WHO is perhaps one of the best means of achieving this and deserves the support and respect of all countries."

 

* INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF NURSES (ICN)

Howard Catton, head of the Geneva-based ICN, which represents 132 national nursing associations, said: "The last thing we need now is for funding to be pulled and WHO to be undermined."

 

"Frontline nurses and other health workers will be shocked and angered and deserve better.

 

"At this moment when we are facing a pandemic unprecedented in modern times, we must support WHO, not cut off its oxygen supply. We must target the virus not WHO, if we are to beat it."

 

* U.S. ORGANISATION PROTECT OUR CARE

"This is nothing more than a transparent attempt by President Trump to distract from his history downplaying the severity of the coronavirus crisis and his administration’s failure to prepare our nation," said Chair Leslie Dach, who served as the global Ebola coordinator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

"To be sure, the World Health Organization is not without fault but it is beyond irresponsible to cut its funding at the height of a global pandemic. This move will undoubtedly make Americans less safe."

 

Protect Our Care is a U.S. organisation working to protect affordable coverage for all Americans.

 

* VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

"This virus doesn't need passports. In a few short months it has travelled to all of the continents of the world except Antarctica. If there were ever an event that showed us how we need to work tougher as a global community, this is it," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert.

 

(Reporting by Michael Perry, Kate Kelland, Stephanie Nebehay and Crispin Dembassa-Kette, Editing by Stephen Coates and Alison Williams)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-16

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And the haters continue to hate.  It's in their DNA.

Don’t these people understand there is an election in November and trump needs someone to blame for any consequences of covid-19, a target to deflect criticism of his handling of the situation?

 

It’s almost as if they don’t care about his image and ego...

8 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

And the haters continue to hate.  It's in their DNA.

...and the ignorant stay ignorant..

Good move by Trump.  The pox they call the UN and anything linked to it shouldn't get a cent from Western countries.

Let Bloomberg pay the $400 million instead of trying to buy elections. 

In this case, just reduce the funds to 3% instead of 15%. Let the other countries to fund more to WHO.

Who Dat???  What me worry?  Trump does not lose any sleep for defunding losers...????

If other country's leaders don't like it they can make up the shortfall themselves, can't they?

 

I suspect that if the WHO gets rid of it's leader, and appoints someone better, Trump may change his mind about funding, but I don't see why the US should pay more than India or China, given their larger populations.

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If other country's leaders don't like it they can make up the shortfall themselves, can't they?

 

I suspect that if the WHO gets rid of it's leader, and appoints someone better, Trump may change his mind about funding, but I don't see why the US should pay more than India or China, given their larger populations.

Maybe bring back Mugabe as the goodwill ambassador.

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If other country's leaders don't like it they can make up the shortfall themselves, can't they?

 

I suspect that if the WHO gets rid of it's leader, and appoints someone better, Trump may change his mind about funding, but I don't see why the US should pay more than India or China, given their larger populations.

They should employ trump as its leader. With his maturity, brilliance, stable genius and so on, he could rid the world of this plague just as efficiently as he has arranged his realistic looking hair.

Good. Millions in taxpayer dollars for years and years and the ONE TIME we need the WHO to help guide policy and be transparent, they utterly fail the planet by taking lying China at their word. 

 

The hyper partisans will ALWAYS blame Trump, they are the same people that have been blaming trump for almost 4 years even when faced with irrefutable evidence that they were wrong, just pivot and deflect to the next thing Trump does without even skipping a beat or apologizing or acknowledging they were wrong. 2 Million cases of Covid 19 globally and growing exponentially certainly has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with the WHO, the UN, and the Chinese Communists. 

 

 

19 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If other country's leaders don't like it they can make up the shortfall themselves, can't they?

 

But they won't. They never do. The USA has wasted trillions and Trillions of dollars barfing up money for ORGs to try and stay ahead of the game and it never gets us anywhere, meanwhile every other nation with an opinion keeps most of their money in their coffers to do with what they like and relies on the US's contribution. 

 

This <deleted> needs a reckoning. 

what? the Wuhan Health Organization?

1 minute ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

But they won't. They never do. The USA has wasted trillions and Trillions of dollars barfing up money for ORGs to try and stay ahead of the game and it never gets us anywhere, meanwhile every other nation with an opinion keeps most of their money in their coffers to do with what they like and relies on the US's contribution. 

 

This <deleted> needs a reckoning. 

 

I don't think given what is happening right now that too many Americans are going to be as understanding about money leaving the country. All foreign aid should be cancelled until the USA comes out of this. 

1 minute ago, Cryingdick said:

I don't think given what is happening right now that too many Americans are going to be as understanding about money leaving the country. All foreign aid should be cancelled until the USA comes out of this. 

 

All foreign aid, except for our staunch, mutually beneficial allies should be stopped. And the USA needs to take a fully nationalistic approach to everything it does going forward. Pay to repatriate foreign companies, aid domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing, beef up the national stockpile, bolster domestic farming, etc. 

5 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

All foreign aid should be cancelled until the USA comes out of this. 

Not just the US. Every western country is going to be financially embarrassed now, and need all of their money to support their own citizens.

59 minutes ago, kevin612 said:

In this case, just reduce the funds to 3% instead of 15%. Let the other countries to fund more to WHO.

you might look into why the who is not funded mainly by member dues apportioned by population and gdp as originally intended

 

way back in the early 80's big pharma lobbyists had their way, the usa and friends had the funding rules changed such that a larger percentage of who funding would come from government donations and from ngo's.

 

seems if a country provides a larger percentage of a budget, they expect to have more voice in decisions....like which pharmaceuticals to recommend.

2 hours ago, Kelsall said:

And the haters continue to hate.  It's in their DNA.

Rite back to the old safe spot lol hey it’s just Donald beeing Donald trying to extort the world health Organization into giving him something to cover his rear end just pathetic it’s how he rolls 

Another deflection tactic from this buffoon. I was saddened to see Dr. Fauci sell his integrity to try to make out that trump’s actions on initiating programs about this virus timely. IF he had, as he stated, told trump this or that needs to be done and it was immediately acted on why didn’t the Orange clown say exactly that? I call BS, but then that is the game plan for this administration and apparently his supporters are happy to consume sh*t sandwiches.

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Not just the US. Every western country is going to be financially embarrassed now, and need all of their money to support their own citizens.

Don't forget that most of the aid given is in support of own interests.

 

Unfortunately international condemnation will only bolster Trump supporters that it is a good decision.

2 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

All foreign aid, except for our staunch, mutually beneficial allies should be stopped. And the USA needs to take a fully nationalistic approach to everything it does going forward. Pay to repatriate foreign companies, aid domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing, beef up the national stockpile, bolster domestic farming, etc. 

That ship has sailed a long time ago.

A baiting flame removed

Trump has done the right thing. If you paid a company to do a job for you and they consistently failed and instead focused on the needs of your competitor, you wouldn't use them any more. The WHO needs to up its game several notches.

 

 

The Trump perspective: U.S. officials say there is near-unanimous agreement among the president’s advisers that the W.H.O. is too heavily influenced by the Chinese government and was too slow to sound the alarm about the virus. Reason: probably the Chinese usually talk sense, have a coherent story, and a long term perspective.

Finally, the U.S. gets a president with some "cajones".

Cut the head off the WHO. It's that easy. The WHO is just a puppet at the moment anyway. Besides they've already got a ton of USA money.  This is just a 'statement' to get the ax swinging.

I was never much of a trump fan until now . I’ll be voting for him in the next election . What’s up with China putting up the $400 million on funding ? Or any of the other tinpot nations that love to comment but don’t put up the wonga ? 

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all this doesn't matter. It's done and I doubt Trump could care less what other countries think about it. What does matter most Americans support this and that is all the support Trump needs. Why would anyone give money to someone or a group that does everything it their power to stab you in the back. The U.N. should be next, WTO and others.