WHO chief counters Trump criticisms behind U.S. pullout

by Robin MILLARD

The World Health Organization's chief hit back Monday at U.S. President Donald Trump's reasons for pulling the United States out of the agency -- and again urged Washington to reconsider.

The United States is by far the WHO's biggest donor and its withdrawal will leave a major hole in the organisation's budget and its ability to respond to global public health threats.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus went through, in turn, the reasons given by Trump's executive order to withdraw from the organization, signed within hours of his return to office on January 20, and outlined what the UN health agency was doing in each field.

"We regret the decision and we hope the US will reconsider," Tedros told the opening of the WHO's executive board meeting.

- Reforms and payments -

Tedros rejected Trump's assertion in his executive order that the agency had failed "to adopt urgently needed reforms".

Over the past seven years, the WHO has implemented "the deepest and most wide-ranging reforms in the organization's history", he said.

Addressing Trump's claim that the WHO "demands unfairly onerous payments from the US", Tedros said the organization had been working to broaden its donor base.

The WHO chief said shifting the balance away from the voluntary contributions, which make up the vast majority of the WHO's income, towards regular membership fees would address the "over-reliance" on major donors.

In its last complete budget cycle, for 2022-23, the United States pitched in $1.3 billion, representing 16.3 percent of the WHO's $7.89 billion budget. Most of the US funding was through voluntary contributions.

- Covid 'challenges' -

In response to the executive order's charge of the WHO "mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic", Tedros highlighted the swift action taken from the very first signals of a "viral pneumonia" spreading in China to alert the world, publish guidance and protect populations.

He admitted there were "challenges and weaknesses" along the way.

But Tedros said the WHO had taken steps to address those issues, and had created a host of new entities to improve the response like the Pandemic Fund and the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, along with the new pandemic agreement being negotiated among WHO member states.

Finally, Trump's order said the WHO had an "inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states".

Tedros said the organization was impartial and tried to serve all countries, but when they make demands on the agency which are "not supported by scientific evidence... we say no, politely".

- 'Domino effect' -

Responding to Tedros's address, Israel's board member Asher Salmon said he feared that Washington leaving "the most relevant health organization in the world" could trigger a "domino effect" of other countries "not necessarily withdrawing, but losing interest".

He said the WHO must find a pathway to see if the United States could reverse its decision.

France's representative Gregory Emery said: "We are at a turning point. In the face of crises that are reshaping the world, we need a strong, legitimate and effective WHO more than ever."

China's representative called for the WHO to "continuously improve transparency and accountability" and for "performance indicators for the cost effectiveness in the use of member states' contributions".

The WHO executive board is meeting at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva from Monday until February 11. It agrees the agenda and resolutions for the decision-making World Health Assembly in May.

© Agence France-Presse