Analysis: "A WHO without the US can have dangerous consequences - but not for the US"

Donald Trump is in a war. Soon, 100,000 Americans have died in what the president himself called a war against an invisible enemy. In addition, Trump is fighting for his numbers in voter opinion that have gone up and down during the corona pandemic. A crucial issue in the November elections will be how the American people feel that the president has managed the crisis. Then it helps if you do not have to bear all the responsibility yourself.

It is against this background that one should see the night's attack on WHO. At home, Trump himself has been accused of much of what he himself accuses the UN agency of. Accusations of acting late, being too kind to China and having downplayed risks.

WHO has defended its actions during the corona crisis. But on Tuesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admitted some shortcomings, while he supported the proposal for an independent evaluation of WHO and the world’s actions during the pandemic.

But that will not be long enough for President Trump, as the WHO chief has not yet said when the independent evaluation will be done.

There is much evidence that the threat may become a reality and that WHO will see big black holes in its budget. If that happens, however, Americans themselves will hardly notice it.

Two-thirds of WHO's budget is spent instead in Africa and the Middle East. There, there is a risk of businesses having to cut back or disappear altogether. Today, US money goes primarily to the eradication of polio (27 percent) and to providing war-torn countries in the Middle East with access to care (17 percent). It is there, in the refugee camps around Syria, and among some of the world's most vulnerable children in areas where polio still exists, that withdrawn money from the United States is likely to be felt most clearly.

WHO has not yet said exactly what parts of the business it will cut down on in the absence of support from the United States. But Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on the world countries and the organizations that fund the WHO to help "fill the budget gap" that arose when the US temporarily froze its support a few weeks ago.

If the hole becomes permanent, it will be harder to patch.