Remarkably, President Donald Trump has cut US funds to the
World Health Organisation (WHO) at the very nadir of our struggle with a global
pandemic. On 14 April, Trump announced, "Today I'm instructing my
administration to halt funding of the WHO while a review is conducted to assess
the WHO's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the
coronavirus."
Who is WHO?
The WHO was founded in 1948 as the “directing and coordinating
authority on international health work”. It has staff of around 7,000 people
deployed globally, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Article One of the
WHO Constitution states, “The objective of the World Health Organization shall
be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.”
In recent years, the WHO has deployed millions of yellow
fever vaccinations to Brazil; millions of polio and measles vaccinations for
children up to 15 years old in war-torn Yemen, together with polio vaccinations
across Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Benin;
community health services in South Sudan; fully equipped ambulances into
conflict areas in Iraq; mental health care in Syria; technical assistance to
Somalia to help with the Bay area cholera outbreak and more, especially in the
fight against tuberculosis and HIV. In Asia, the WHO has also worked with
partner countries to fight infectious diseases including dengue and malaria,
and non-communicable diseases like diabetes and heart disease. On Wednesday 15 April,
Professor Trudie Lang, a researcher on world health at Oxford University, told
Global News, “The reason we’re making such fast progress on (COVID-19) diagnostics,
vaccines and drugs is because of WHO’s role as a neutral broker… It’s their
role to bring together the best science.”
A total of 194 WHO member States each pay assessment fees
based on wealth and population. In addition, they make additional voluntary
contributions, along with the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and
philanthropic foundations.
The US has contributed about 15% of the WHO's funding in ‘voluntary
contributions’, supporting specific initiatives, and 22% of the $1 billion of
annual ‘assessed contributions’ from member nations. For 2020-21, the WHO budget is $4.8 billion, or $2.4
billion per year. Overall, in 2018-19, the US contributed around 20% of the WHO
budget. According
to the WHO statement of account, as at 31 March 2020, the US “is behind in its
payment of assessed fees. It currently owes $198.3 million in membership dues,
including some amounts owed for previous cycles.”
On 15 April, Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, was quoted by NPR to have said, "The WHO has a budget around the size of a large U.S. hospital. It's about one quarter of the budget of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
On 15 April, Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, was quoted by NPR to have said, "The WHO has a budget around the size of a large U.S. hospital. It's about one quarter of the budget of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
Reactions to the Funding Cut
Donald Trump’s announcement has been almost universally
condemned around the world. On Wednesday 15th April, the head of EU
Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, tweeted, “Deeply regret US decision to suspend
funding to WHO. There is no reason justifying this move at a moment when their
efforts are needed more than ever to help contain & mitigate the
coronavirus pandemic.” Predictably, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said, "We regret the decision of the president of the United
States." And Bill Gates tweeted, “Halting funding for the World Health
Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.”
Also on Wednesday, the Financial
Times quoted global leaders including Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, the
German Foreign Minister, Ireland’s Foreign Minister and the EU Commission
President all expressing dismay at the decision.
Non-government reaction is possibly best summed up by Associate
Professor Stephen Griffin at the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, who reportedly
said that the decision was “one of the least productive, most short-sighted,
self-motivated and hypocritical acts I have ever witnessed”.
Closing another door
On 05 February 2020, Jeffrey Sachs told the Pontifical
Academy of Social Sciences that “The US is a problem. It became a far more
significant problem with Donald Trump… The US has blocked every multilateral
initiative of recent years. It is the only country pulling out of the Paris
Climate Agreement; it is the only country that pulled out of the (Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action) JCPOA Agreement with Iran... The US is attacking digital
taxation; it has taken tremendous, disastrous cuts to corporate taxation which
is blowing up the world-wide taxation on companies. It has dismembered the WTO,
there is no appellate process now. It now claims that it’s going to adjudicate
exchange rates and put unilateral tariffs against countries that the US alone
deems to be manipulating the exchange rate… we can’t have the United States
adjudicate exchange rates, that’s the job of the IMF… There is a US relentless,
daily pressure on multilateralism.”
Sachs is correct to recognise that the United States has
retreated from multilateral engagement under the Trump Administration. The US
has abandoned the leading role it once played in APEC. Trump has criticized NATO
and was reported by The New York Times
as privately discussing in 2018 pulling out of the alliance. In 2017, he destroyed the
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement by withdrawing the United States leaving
the remaining 11 countries to form a new trade agreement called the Comprehensive
and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
And now, the US has halted payment to the WHO just when the world needs that organisation to be at its strongest. There may be some merit in accusations that the WHO was too trusting of information coming out of China and that it made errors of judgement during the early days of this unfolding crisis, but could these matters have been examined and discussed while continuing to recognise and support the critical role that the WHO plays in combating the COVID-19 pandemic? President Trump’s decision to halt funding of the WHO is consistent with a steady retreat from multilateralism, which might play well with his supporters at home but has not generally enjoyed support elsewhere.
And now, the US has halted payment to the WHO just when the world needs that organisation to be at its strongest. There may be some merit in accusations that the WHO was too trusting of information coming out of China and that it made errors of judgement during the early days of this unfolding crisis, but could these matters have been examined and discussed while continuing to recognise and support the critical role that the WHO plays in combating the COVID-19 pandemic? President Trump’s decision to halt funding of the WHO is consistent with a steady retreat from multilateralism, which might play well with his supporters at home but has not generally enjoyed support elsewhere.
