New Delhi (NVI): This is not the time to reduce resources for World Health Organization, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has said after Donald Trump stopped US funding to WHO, accusing the global health body of not being able to handle the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences,” Guterres said, “not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organisation in the fight against the virus.”
The Trump administration has accused WHO of taking side with China in the coronavirus outbreak that has brought America’s economy to a standstill, according to media reports.
The Geneva-based organisation had promoted China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak than otherwise would have occurred, Trump has claimed.
At a White House news conference yesterday, Trump said, “The WHO failed in this basic duty and must be held accountable”.
“Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess WHO’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what has gone on there,” Trump further added.
The United States is the biggest overall donor to the WHO, contributing more than USD 400 million in 2019, roughly 15 per cent of its budget.
The novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan City of central China’s Hubei province in November 2019, has so far killed at least 1,26,500 people globally, including more than 28,000 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
