Geneva, April 9 (Reuters) – The head of the World Health Organisation gave a strident defence of his agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday (April 8), in response to US President Donald Trump’s criticism and suggestion that Washington could review its funding for the agency.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity and a halt to “politicisation” of the global health crisis, specifically urging China and the United States to show “honest leadership”.
Tedros said that he expected US funding to continue with traditional bipartisan support.
US contributions to the WHO in 2019 exceeded US$400 million (S$570 million), almost double the second largest country donor, according to US figures. The WHO website shows the United States as its top donor, contributing nearly 15 per cent of the budget.
“We have kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence,” Tedros said, noting that Thursday would mark 100 days since China first notified the organisation of cases of “pneumonia with unknown cause” on Dec 31.
Tedros, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia, also rejected Trump’s suggestion that the WHO was “China-centric”, saying: “We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind.”
Earlier, Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to Tedros, also defended the UN agency’s relationship with China, saying its work with Beijing authorities was important to understand the outbreak.
“It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this,” said Aylward, who led a WHO expert mission to China in February.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that now was not the time to assess the global response to the pandemic, calling instead for the international community to focus on working in solidarity to stop the virus.
Tedros said his UN agency would conduct its usual assessment of its performance after the emergency and draw lessons about its strengths and weaknesses, adding: “We make mistakes like other human beings.”
He summarised his advice as: “Please, unity at national level, no using Covid for political points. Second, honest solidarity at the global level. And honest leadership from the US and China.”
