Chairman of the African Union (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat, has publicly condemned President Donald Trump‘s decision to suspend funding of the World Health Organization (WHO) amid the coronavirus outbreak, reports theBBC. The AU chief whip, who joins many world leaders and public health professionals in condemning Trump, described the funding cuts as being “deeply regrettable” in a recent social media post.
This past Tuesday, responding to criticisms of how his administration has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump fired back by announcing that the United Stated would be suspending funding of WHO for a period of 60 to 90 days.
Prior to holding a press conference, Trump had tweeted, “WHO really blew it.” He added that, “For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look.”
In a press conference, Trump said the following:
“With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible. The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion. If we cannot trust them, if this is what we will receive from the WHO, our country will be forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals.”
Public health professionals and world leaders alike have all condemned the move and emphasised how it will only further complicate existing relief efforts to curb the spread of the outbreak. The United States was the single largest donor of WHO last year having contributed 400 million dollars to the organisation’s 6 billion dollar budget.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, has responded by saying, “We regret the decision of the President of the United States to order a halt in funding to [WHO].” Adhanom added that, “For now, our focus, my focus, is on stopping this virus and saving lives.”
Adhanom has himself been the subject of personal attacks from Trump but has since received the collective support of fellow African leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
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