By Adedapo Adesanya
The United States is halting funds to the World Health Organisation (WHO) while a review will be carried out over its slow response to the coronavirus pandemic.
This was announced by the US President, Mr Donald Trump on Tuesday where he said the review will cover the role of the specialised agency in mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus.
This decision will see WHO lose its biggest donor, the US, which provides between $400 and $500 million a year to the organization.
The cut is coming in the middle of a growing global pandemic as Mr Trump said the US will stop payments while a 60 to 90 day review takes place to assess the WHO.
Cutting off funds to the WHO, which has a $4.8 billion annual budget, will be a major blow to the organization as it conducts vaccine trials, distributes test kits and advises governments around the world.
He also pointed that the WHO had praised China for its so-called transparency and accused it for siding on opposing his travel restrictions.
WHO, during the early period of the coronavirus outbreak, had called such travel bans ineffective in most situations at the time, but said it gives countries time to initiate and implement effective preparedness measures.
The announcement comes after the American President came under fire for his late response to the virus. WHO declared the coronavirus a global health emergency in late January, while it wasn’t until mid-March did the US call COVID-19, a national emergency.
In a response, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that now is not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus.
“There must be a time to look back and understand how the disease spread so quickly across the world “once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic,” Mr Guterres said.
“Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis,” he said. “But now is not that time,” he added.
