Trump’s Funding Cut Won’t Fix the WHO's Problems
He’s not wrong to point out the organization’s mistakes. But cutting resources in the middle of a pandemic will only jeopardize public health.
China's voluntary donations to the WHO are smaller than those from Kuwait, Pakistan or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Photographer: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
Global health emergencies will be a fact of life in the 21st century. So, too, will be the World Health Organization’s chronic inability to rise to the occasion.
President Donald Trump is hoping that the body’s failures in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic can be corrected with punishment. The U.S. will halt payments to the WHO to hold it “accountable” for its failure to warn earlier of a public health emergency and recommend travel restrictions from China, he said Tuesday in the U.S.