Trump Announces the US Will No Longer Be Funding WHO

In a recent address in the Rose Garden at the White House, the president of the US, Donald Trump has stated that the country will no longer be funding a number of health agencies followed a new proclamation will maintain the ongoing research on the ongoing coronavirus research in many of the American universities.

The new decisions by the president have been said to be a part of the US’s ‘anti-china’ campaign as many of the government officials of Trump Administration believe that China is majorly responsible for the current global health crisis and even has power over the World Health Organization.

In the past few weeks, President Trump, along with a number of other officials had repeatedly accused the WHO of not taking effective measures in order to control the coronavirus spread in different parts of the world.

Trump specifically said that the organization’s lethargy was the primary reason the virus was able to spread in almost all countries since late January and it could have been avoided had the WHO acted more quickly.

Even though the WHO responded by saying it will review its response to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump announced that the US will be cutting all ties with the organization in his new address from the White House on Friday.

According to the president, the WHO is under pressure from the China government which is why it also misled the world in the early stages of the breakout of the coronavirus infection.

Currently, the US contributes around four hundred and fifty million dollars to the World Health Organization which is more than any other country. In comparison, China contributes only forty million dollars.

This means that the withdrawal of monetary support from the US can impact the health agency to a significant extent, which, in turn, can have consequences on the coronavirus pandemic control.

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Not only did Trump redirected funding to the WHO in the middle of the ongoing health crisis, but it also repeatedly blamed China for coronavirus spread, saying that the ‘Wuhan virus’ is the reason for over 100,000 deaths and the increasing number of cases in the US.

During the address, the commander-in-chief also added that the US would be changing its treatment along with revising its travel policies and advice to Hong Kong since it is no longer autonomous and under the Chinese government now.

Furthermore, the US government plans on taking measures to sanction certain government officials from Hong Kong, who were allegedly a part of the plan to decrease Hong Kong’s autonomy and side with the Chinese government.

On the other hand, the Chinese government is likely to continue introducing new policies and legislation that can significantly take away Hong Kong’s autonomy under the plan of ‘one country, two different political systems’ as well as end the anti-legislation protests from people in the city.

Although the press conferences were likely to be on the status of the coronavirus pandemic, many expected Trump to discuss the recent incident of the killing of George Floyd but the president left without answering any questions or hearing any comments from the press.

After the Friday address, there is now a new concern of a political war during the ongoing health crisis which can significantly impact the progress over the coronavirus spread and prolong the pandemic especially if the WHO loses funds and is no longer able to look over the outbreaks anymore.

There have been no responses or comments from the experts and leaders at the World Health Organization on the decision of the US government yet.