Unhealthy interest: why the United States announced a review of WHO funding

The United States is reviewing funding for the World Health Organization, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“At the moment, we are reviewing the volume of funding for the World Health Organization ... Organizations must work, they must produce the results that they expect from them ... In the case of WHO we do not see that it has achieved what it should have” - said the head of the State Department.

The fact that the United States may freeze contributions to the WHO budget, Donald Trump said earlier. The American leader accused WHO of failing to warn the world community in time about the threat of the coronavirus COVID-19.

“They could have attracted attention (to the coronavirus. - RT ) a few months ago. They should have known about this, and they probably knew about it, ”Trump said.

In addition, the owner of the White House believes that WHO is "oriented to China," because the organization spoke out in early February against the restrictions imposed by countries on travel from China.

“They really criticized and did not agree with my travel ban when I introduced it, and they were mistaken. They were mistaken in many ways. They had a lot of information at an early stage, but they don’t ... it looks like they are very focused on China, ”Trump emphasized.

In response to a question from journalists, is it appropriate to freeze WHO funding during a pandemic, Trump said that such a move is only being considered.

"Maybe not. I do not say that I will do it. But we will consider such an option, ”Trump explained.

The US President recalled that the American side provides huge funding to WHO, but now Washington will study the question of ending it.

“You see, there (in WHO. - RT ) they were mistaken. And if you look at what happened in previous years, you will see that WHO shows a clear bias in favor of China. This should not be, ”said Donald Trump.

Commenting on the US President’s statement, the Director of the WHO European Office Hans Kluge noted that now is “not the time to cut funding” for the organization, as the world continues to be in the acute phase of the pandemic.

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China also commented on Donald Trump’s plans to freeze WHO funding. According to Zhao Lijiang, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, such a move could adversely affect the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the current context of the spread of the epidemic around the world, the US statement that they will suspend WHO funding will have a negative impact on the international fight against the pandemic,” the Chinese diplomat emphasized, adding that WHO plays an important role in this work.

Do not agree with the conclusions of Donald trump and the UN. As the representative of the UN Secretary General Stefan Dujarric noted, WHO has done tremendous work to combat COVID-19.

With criticism of WHO, the American leader had previously spoken on Twitter.

“WHO really screwed up. For some reason, this organization, which is largely funded by the United States, is largely oriented toward China. We will carefully study this issue. Fortunately, at the early stage I rejected their advice to leave our borders open to China. Why did they give us such a bad recommendation? ”Trump wrote.

The WHO really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?

But many in the United States believe that the White House made major mistakes in the fight against coronavirus.

As an American telemedicine doctor Eugene Gu wrote in response to Trump's Twitter post, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced for the first time that life in America would change because of coronavirus, everyone except Trump understood how much the situation serious.

"And he (Trump . - RT ) continued to repeat:" This is just the flu guys. " Trump screwed up, and now he accuses the WHO of his mistakes, ”the doctor believes.

Indeed, back in early March, Donald Trump compared COVID-19 with the usual seasonal flu.

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“The usual indicator in our country is from 27 thousand to 70 thousand deaths from influenza per year. And nobody closes anything, life and the economy go their own way, ”he wrote on Twitter, urging Americans to“ think. ”

Recall that in early February, US authorities closed the communication with China, an exception was made only for American citizens. However, the latter had to wait two weeks in quarantine upon arrival from the PRC, as well as pass medical tests.

WHO management did not support such measures. As the director general of the organization Tedros Adan Gebreyesus stated then, the actions of Beijing allowed to slow the spread of coronavirus in the world. WHO called on countries to refrain from imposing travel restrictions on China, as well as trade with China. The organization considered that such measures were not necessary.

At the same time, WHO recommended screening arriving passengers, as well as applying quarantine restrictions for people who had dangerous contacts.

Although the US authorities closed the communication with China, this did not help to avoid a major outbreak of coronavirus in the United States. Now the country is in first place in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths from it. As of April 8, the number of US residents infected with COVID-19 exceeded 400 thousand; 1736 people died from the virus per day in the country. In total, in the United States, the coronavirus claimed more than 14 thousand lives. Experts do not share the ratings of the American leader. As Vladimir Vasiliev, the chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in an interview with RT, the allegations of inactivity that are heard today against the Trump administration are justified. According to the expert, the US authorities began too late to take measures to combat the spread of infection.

“And today, the fact that the United States came first in terms of the number of cases makes it possible for opponents to actively criticize the Trump administration,” the expert noted.

According to Vasilyev, the Trump administration as a whole did not pay much attention to the healthcare sector. And WHO is a "thorn in the eye" for the Trump administration, because the organization sets the standards in the field of healthcare, which states must comply with. This situation does not suit the US authorities, the expert said.

In turn, Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is convinced that Trump's harsh rhetoric is in many ways a reaction to criticism of him.

“Trump's opponents are now trying to use any excuse to criticize him. The current crisis has become an occasion for Democrats to show that Trump is not an effective leader. He, in turn, is acting out at WHO, ”the expert noted in a commentary on RT.

“Typical Approach”

Another object of criticism for Washington, along with WHO, was China. Although international experts note the effectiveness with which the Chinese authorities were able to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country in a relatively short time, the American leadership is not ready to recognize the merits of the Chinese side.

Washington does not agree that Beijing has done everything possible to stop the spread of the virus. As head of State Department Mike Pompeo said in March, the Chinese authorities allegedly allowed hundreds of thousands of infected people to leave Wuhan. This was announced by the head of the US foreign affairs agency on Fox News. According to the American side, the Chinese authorities lost time trying to prevent the spread of information about the dangerous virus.

• Ferry across the Yangtze to Wuhan.
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According to Vladimir Vasiliev, the Trump administration is trying to use the situation with the coronavirus to blame China for its occurrence.

“The US authorities are already starting to increase their claims not only to WHO, but also to China, and gradually it will come to the demands of“ compensating ”for the US losses from the pandemic. Washington will promote the idea that Beijing is supposedly to blame for the pandemic. And these calls may fall on fertile ground, given the general deterioration of the economic situation, ”the expert said.

In the meantime, Washington may try to save money by freezing the financial tranches of the World Health Organization, experts say. The United States is the largest donor to WHO: the total amount of American contributions to the organization’s budget for 2016-2017 amounted to about $ 1 billion. This amount includes both mandatory contributions and voluntary donations. At the end of 2018, the United States also came in first in terms of the amount transferred to the WHO balance sheet, donating about $ 400 million for the organization’s needs.

According to experts, cutting spending on the needs of international structures is part of Trump's long-standing strategy. For example, in 2019, it became known about a reduction in US contributions to the NATO budget. This was announced by the Secretary General of the military bloc Jens Stoltenberg.

“In general, budget cuts, as well as withdrawal from international organizations, fit into the tactics typical of Trump. Now he once again wants to prove the pointlessness of US participation in international structures and treaties. Obviously, the United States can not only freeze payments to WHO, but also begin to withdraw from it, ”said Vladimir Vasiliev.

A similar point of view is shared by Konstantin Blokhin, according to the expert, criticizing the WHO, Trump once again demonstrated his ideological priorities, the course towards political and economic isolation of the country.

In turn, Vladimir Vasiliev believes that, criticizing WHO, Trump, first of all, is trying to relieve himself of responsibility for the situation with coronavirus in the country.

“Simply put, receiving criticism of the address, the White House administration is“ shifting arrows ”to WHO, looking for“ scapegoats ”. There is no doubt that over time this trend will only intensify, ”the expert summed up.