Trump cutting funding from the WHO amid coronavirus could exacerbate the crisis and cost more American lives

Leah Millis/Reuters

• President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he is cutting funds from the World Health Organization (WHO). 
• Trump accused the WHO of failing to "adequately obtain and share information" on the coronavirus pandemic "in a timely and transparent fashion."
• Former US officials who worked on public health crises under both Republican and Democratic administrations warned this move could exacerbate the pandemic. 
• "If we throw a punch at WHO we're just going to end up connecting with our own jaw here, because it will make it harder to stop the outbreak globally and that is bad for our own interests," Jeremy Konyndyk, who oversaw the Obama administration's response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa as director for foreign disaster assistance at USAID, told Insider.
• "Defunding WHO will mean the withdrawal of medical advisors to these regions when they need it the most as the virus encroaches...The pandemic could last for many more months even years longer, and could even become permanent among human populations," Jack Chow, a US ambassador for global HIV/AIDS during President George W. Bush's administration and former WHO assistant director-general, told Insider.
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President Donald Trump's decision to cut funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) amid the coronavirus pandemic could exacerbate the crisis and cost more American lives, former US officials who worked on public health crises under Republican and Democratic administrations warn.

The WHO plays a crucial role in advising developing countries on medical issues and crises, and slashing its funds during this pandemic could translate into the virus spiraling out of control in such regions and lead it to return to developed countries who have successfully contained it. The US contributes more to the WHO than any other country, providing roughly 15% of its budget. 

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See Also:

• Trump orders US to stop funding WHO as it reviews the agency's role in what he calls 'covering up the spread of the coronavirus'
• CNN had a field day with its chyrons during Trump's 'meltdown' at his coronavirus briefing
• Just 27% of Americans think the US is doing better than other countries at containing the coronavirus

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