That’s
correct, Trump, in his dangerous ignorance and narcissism, the fool who did nothing to
prepare America for the coming pandemic as early as Dec. 31, 2019 (when the World Health Organization informed the U.S. of a pneumonia cluster of unknown causes) and all the way through January, February and March 2020, is now “threatening
to permanently withdraw funding and cancel U.S. membership even as it deals with
a devastating global pandemic.” This is in a time when America still does not have an
accurate, unified and coherent national testing program; this is in a time when America
still does not have unified and sufficient antibody testing and contact tracing, and this is in a time when its healthcare workers still do not have adequate supplies to fight the Covid-19 pandemic that is on the rise in many
parts of the U.S. -Glen Brown.
“…In
a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday, Trump
bemoaned ‘repeated missteps by you and your organization’ and said he would
permanently halt financial contributions if the WHO does not ‘commit to major
substantive improvements in the next 30 days.’ Trump temporarily suspended
funding to the organization last month.
“The threat is in line
with Trump's track record of extracting the US from various
international bodies and treaties. But it's a remarkable
ultimatum for an American President to issue during a global public health
crisis which has so far claimed more than 300,000 lives.
“The move, made
after the first day of the WHO's annual
summit, leaves Trump isolated on the global stage. China called on
the U.S. to ‘stop the blame game’ on Tuesday, while the EU said ‘it is not the
time for finger pointing.’ Leaders of several countries, including France and
Germany, also stressed the importance of the WHO's work in battling the
pandemic during Monday's meeting. If Trump follows through on the threat,
however, it could have significant consequences in the U.S. and around the world.
What
does the WHO do?
The WHO is a UN agency
founded in 1948, only several years after the UN itself was formed. The agency
was created to coordinate international health policy, particularly on
infectious disease. The organization is comprised of and run by 194 member
states. Each member chooses a delegation of health experts and leaders to
represent the country in the World Health Assembly, the
organization's decision and policy-making body
“The member states
directly control the organization's leadership and direction -- the assembly
appoints the WHO director general, sets its agenda and priorities, reviews and
approves budgets, and more. The WHO has more than 150 field offices globally,
where staff on the ground work with local authorities to provide guidance and
health care assistance.
“In the 70 years since
its founding, the WHO has had its share of successes: it helped eradicate
smallpox, reduced polio cases by 99%, and has been on the front lines of the
battle against outbreaks like Ebola. More recently, it is helping countries
battle the dengue outbreak in
South and Southeast Asia, providing local clinics and health ministries with
training, equipment, financial aid and community resources. But the WHO has also faced criticism for
being overly bureaucratic, politicized, and dependent on a few major donors.
How
is it funded?
“The WHO is funded by
several sources: international organizations, private donors, member states,
and its parent organization, the UN. Each member state is required to pay dues
to be a part of the organization; these are called ‘assessed
contributions’ and are calculated
relative to each country's wealth and population. These dues only make up about
a quarter of the WHO's total funding. The rest of the three quarters mostly
come from ‘voluntary contributions,’
meaning donations from member states or partners.
“Of all the countries,
the U.S. is by far the largest donor; in the two-year funding cycle of 2018 to
2019, it gave $893 million to the WHO.
But most of this total was given voluntarily; the U.S. paid $237 million in the
required membership dues, and another $656 million in the form of donations. U.S. donations make up 14.67% of all voluntary contributions given globally. The
next biggest donor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an American
private organization, which gave $531 million in the same period.
“The amount that
countries decide to contribute on top of their mandatory dues varies
significantly by nation. The UK, for example, give $335 million to the body
voluntarily -- around eight times its required payment of $43 million.
Similarly, about 80% of Germany's contribution is voluntary. But only around
12% of China’s contributions were voluntary between 2018 and 2019, and less
than a third of France’s payments were voluntary.
Why
is Trump criticizing the WHO?
“Some of the WHO's
critics have long alleged that member states hold different levels of influence
in the agency due to their political and financial capabilities. Major donors
like the U.S. are perceived by some as holding outsized influence, which has
historically caused friction; during the Cold War, the Soviet Union and its
allies left the WHO for a number of years because they felt the U.S. had too much
sway in the organization.
“More recently, the same
skepticism has been aimed toward the WHO's relationship with China; critics
have questioned whether the WHO is independent enough, given China's rising
wealth and power. That line of criticism has been seized on by Trump, who initially praised the WHO and
China's responses to the coronavirus but changed his tone in
recent weeks.
“Trump had commended
both parties throughout March for their handling of the crisis, but condemned
them in mid-April. Then, in his Monday letter, he accused the WHO of ‘political
gamesmanship’ for praising China's strict domestic travel restrictions while
being ‘inexplicably against my closing of the United States border.’ He went on
to highlight the WHO's reaffirmation of ‘China's now-debunked claim that the
coronavirus could not be transmitted between humans.’
What
happens if the U.S. pulls out?
“The WHO would lose a
significant chunk of its funding if the U.S. stopped sending payments or withdrew
entirely from the organization. Whether other nations would increase their
contributions to plug the gap remains to be seen, but it is clear that other
world leaders would be concerned about the prospect -- particularly given the
state of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘We need a strong WHO to tackle Covid-19, and
the WHO is us, its member states,’ Emmanuel Macron said in a pre-recorded
statement to the World Health Assembly on Monday.
“German Chancellor
Angela Merkel also urged international cooperation to defeat the pandemic. ‘We
are experiencing a global crisis with hundreds of thousands of people who have
been infected, and affected with social and economic consequences that show
that virtually no country has been spared by this pandemic,’ Merkel said. ‘So,
no country can solve this problem alone. We must work together.’
“And on Tuesday, the EU
strongly criticized any attempts to pull apart the WHO. ‘Global cooperation and
solidarity through multilateral efforts are the only effective and viable
option to win this battle as we have underlined several times,’ spokesperson
for the European Commission Virginie Battu-Henriksson said Tuesday. ‘This is
the time for solidarity, it is not the time for finger pointing or undermining
multilateral cooperation.’
“It therefore seems
unlikely that any decision by the U.S. to leave would encourage other states to
follow suit. The move would more likely be met with a chorus of disapproval
from most countries and international organizations, similar to the global
response after Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Climate
Accord in 2017.
“The U.S. would also be
left with less access to WHO resources as it fights its coronavirus outbreak,
and little say on how the WHO operates, if it stopped being a member state.
Given the size of its contributions, it is currently a major player within the organization”
(CNN).
U.S. Total Cases: 1,571,131
ReplyDeleteU.S. Total Deaths: 93,558
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries