On Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hit back at United States (US) President, Donald Trump over his decision to pulled the US government out of the WHO.
New Telegraph reports that withdrawal the US is by far the WHO’s biggest donor and its withdrawal will leave a major hole in the organisation’s budget and its ability to respond to global public health threats.
Addressing Trump’s claim that the WHO demands unfairly onerous payments from the US, Tedros stressed that the organization had been working to broaden its donor base.
Speaking at the opening of the WHO’s executive board meeting, the DG said the agency is shifting the balance away from voluntary contributions, which make up the vast majority of the WHO’s income, towards regular membership fees that would address the over-reliance on major donors.
Also, in response to mishandling of the COVID-19 Tedros highlighted the swift action taken by the organization from the very first signals of viral pneumonia spreading in China to alert the world, publish guidance, and protect populations.
However, Tedros insisted that WHO had taken steps to address those issues, and had created a host of new entities to improve the response like the Pandemic Fund and the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, along with the new pandemic agreement being negotiated among WHO member states.
