United States vs WHO
In the middle of a raging pandemic, suspending support to the only global health body is a monumental blunder
There is no denying the World Health Organization’s failures in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. It was parroting China’s misinformation as late as mid-January—almost two months after the disease was first reported—when it should have rigorously scrutinised official Chinese reports. China only confirmed human-human transmission on January 20, while it had been isolating patients much before. Damningly, WHO confirmed this on January 22—eight days after the technical lead of the health body’s Covid response team told the press there may be limited human-human transmission, with a risk of a possible wider outbreak.
In early January, WHO did talk about increased vigilance to detect ‘evidence of amplified or sustained human-human’ transmission,but it only declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11, long after the ball on preventing spread had been dropped. Yet, a raging pandemic is no time to stop funding the WHO. US president Donald Trump doing so imperils the Covid-19 response, especially in low-income/developing nations.
The WHO is sorely underfunded—calls to step up funding have seen little success. The US—its largest contributor—gave around $450 mn annually in 2018 and 2019; WHO’s budget in 2018-19 was $4.8 bn. Now, with the corona crisis, WHO is estimated to require an additional funding of $1 bn to support public health systems—including India’s, which has turned to it for reagent supply for testing—and research globally.
During the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak, lack of funding prevented the WHO from acting until six months into the outbreak. This time, despite its failures, it has acted much faster. One of its most significant actions is the launch of the Solidarity Trial, under which four drugs will be tested across participating nations, including India and China, for possible anti-Covid action. Apart from leaders across the developed world, some of Trump’s own top health officials have sided with the WHO. Cutting support, however flawed the body may be, in the midst of a pandemic is hardly a sane move.
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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story and may not have modified or edited by Quickclarity news)
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