Former official says losing US funding would devastate global health agency
A former top official at the World Health Organization has said Donald Trump’s threat to pull his country’s funding of the global agency would be “disastrous” if carried out, but that international collaboration would continue between researchers tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
At a White House press briefing on 7 April Trump said “we’re going to put a hold on the money spent [sic] to the WHO, we’re going to put a very powerful hold on it”. He later backtracked on whether he would follow through with the threat, saying “I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but we’re going to look at it.”
WHO is playing a critical role in the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
David Heymann, who was previously the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, told journalists at a press briefing on 8 April that the international health body “works on a shoestring budget” and would be unable to continue its work if it loses funding.
The United States is the largest contributor to the WHO budget, and is due to pay $58 million per year for 2020 and 2021. The US has delayed paying its contributions in the past, leaving the agency increasingly reliant on other big funders such as China.
Trump said his rationale behind withdrawing funding was that the WHO is “China-centric” and has “called it wrong” on Covid-19.
Heymann told reporters that despite such political tensions, experts have successfully collaborated during the pandemic through informal channels, as well as via the WHO. “So yes, it would be disastrous for WHO to lose funding but there will be continued technical work despite geopolitical tensions,” Heymann said.