US President Donald Trump has threatened to permanently cut off US funding of the World Health Organisation (WHO), with an ultimatum to the global health agency to show “substantive improvements” within the next 30 days.
US suspended contributions to the WHO last month. The country accused WHO of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak.
The WHO officials denied the accusation and China said it was transparent and open.
“If the WHO does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the WHO permanent and reconsider our membership,” Trump told WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a letter posted on Twitter.
Trump had earlier said the WHO had “done a very sad job” in its handling of the virus and he would make a decision soon on US funding.
Trump has stated in his letter that the only way forward for the body was if it could demonstrate independence from China, adding that his administration had already started reform discussions with Tedros.
On Monday, the WHO said an independent review of the global virus response would begin as soon as possible and it had received backing and a hefty pledge of funds from China, in the spotlight as the origin of the pandemic.
This year, Washington has already paid the WHO about $58 million, senior Trump administration officials said last month, half of what it is required to pay for 2020 — known as an assessed contribution.
US traditionally provides several hundred million dollars annually in voluntary funding tied to specific WHO programs like polio eradication, vaccine-preventable disease, HIV and hepatitis, tuberculosis, and maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
It was not clear how much voluntary funding the United States had already provided for WHO programs in 2020.
WHO is a UN specialised agency and leading a global initiative to develop safe and effective vaccines, tests and drugs to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.
More than 4.75 million people have been reported to have been infected globally and 314,414 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
The United States contributed more than $400 million to the WHO in 2019, or roughly 15% of the organisation’s budget.
