GENEVA – The World Health Organization said Friday it was reviewing its priorities in preparation for the withdrawal of its biggest donor, the United States, stressing that it provides critical services that protect countries from health threats. President Trump signed the executive order on Monday. order the US to withdraw From whom, from a body whose treatment he repeatedly criticized COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that this announcement has made our financial situation more serious and created great concern and uncertainty for WHO workers,” the organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told WHO staff on Thursday. said in a letter sent and seen by AFP on Friday.
He stressed that the U.N. health agency regrets the decision by the U.S. leader – the agency’s biggest donor – and hoped that “the new administration will reconsider it.”
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“We are open to engaging in constructive dialogue to preserve and strengthen the historic relationship between WHO and the United States,” he said.
Spokesman Christian Lindmeyer stressed to reporters on Friday that the U.S. withdrawal was a mistake in the agency’s view.
“Who protects America with sophisticated health intelligence systems that work to detect, characterize, and assess threats in real time,” he said. He specifically pointed to the current avian influenza outbreak (H5N1).
“In fact, they had already contacted us with concerns that this could be an issue because the data is not moving forward any further and may not be shared,” Lindmeier said. I did.
In his letter, Tedros stressed that the UN agency needs to work to identify its “key priorities”.
“We are reviewing activities to reduce and prioritize resource envelopes,” he said.
He emphasized that WHO had recently expanded its funding base and continues to rely on strong support from Member States and other sources.
However, he acknowledged the need to “reduce costs and realize efficiency gains.”
Among other things, he said the agency has “frozen hiring in all but the most critical areas” and has dramatically reduced travel costs.
The U.S. withdrawal will take a year to complete, and under the organization’s rules, American funds will remain for that period. But Trump’s order also directed U.S. federal government staff to stop working with the group. This is what U.S. health officials do for a wide range of health issues of global concern.
On “CBS Mornings Plus” earlier this week, CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon Lapook said health experts are already worried about the impact of the U.S. withdrawal.
“Public health experts I’ve talked to are concerned that we have a global leadership position on this. For example, if there’s another pandemic, it’s going to be very difficult, from a communications perspective, Everybody around the world,” Lapuk said.
While there are other avenues for communication, such as medical societies and individual outreach, Lapuk said “it’s good to have a coordinated effort.”
The White House said in a statement Monday night that the United States is “withdrawing from the WHO because the organization is misrepresenting the Covid-19 pandemic.” Born from UhanChina, and other global health crises, the failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and the failure to demonstrate independence from inappropriate political influence of member states. ”
