Donald Trump has announced he will cut US funding to the World Health Organization, but who are they and how will the funding halt affect them?
US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt funding for the World Health Organisation, depriving it of its biggest funding source, could have far-reaching effects in efforts to fight diseases and make health care more widely available across the globe.
Though the WHO is broadly influential, it lacks meaningful enforcement authority and is under budgetary and political pressures, especially from powerful nations like the United States and China and private funders like the Gates Foundation. In 2019, the United States contributed about $553 million . The WHO’s biennial budget — every two years — was about $6.3 billion in 2018-2019.
The WHO has consistently advised against travel restrictions, arguing that they are ineffective, can block needed resources and are likely to cause economic harm. But Mr Trump has frequently pointed to his decision to limit travel from China in late January as evidence he took the threat seriously. “There is room to criticise here,” he said. “But I don’t think, in the middle of a pandemic, making a political statement is the best way to address the shortcomings.” Dr Gostin said that the organisation has been hobbled for structural and political reasons, and become timid as a result.
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