UN Health Agency on the Defensive      04/09 06:17

   GENEVA (AP) -- In a heartfelt plea for unity, the World Health 
Organization's chief sought Wednesday to rise above sharp criticism and threats 
of funding cuts from U.S. President Donald Trump over the agency's response to 
the coronavirus outbreak.

   The vocal defense from the WHO director-general came a day after Trump 
blasted the U.N. agency for being "China-centric" and alleging that it had 
"criticized" his ban of travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was 
spreading from the city of Wuhan.

   Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian and the WHO's first African leader, 
projected humility and minimized his personal role while decrying invective and 
even racist slurs against him amid the organizaiton's response to the disease. 
The new coronavirus has infected more than 1.4 million people and cost over 
83,000 lives around the globe.

   "Why would I care about being attacked when people are dying?" he said. "I 
know that I am just an individual. Tedros is just a dot in the whole universe."

   He dodged questions about Trump's comments, while acknowledging the agency 
was made up of humans "who make mistakes," and insisted his key focus was 
saving lives, not getting caught up in politics.

   "No need to use COVID to score political points. You have many other ways to 
prove yourself," Tedros said. "If you don't want many more body bags, then you 
refrain from politicizing it."

   Avoiding any direct mention of Trump, Tedros' comments testified to the 
often-delicate task faced by U.N. leaders when criticized by member states. 
That challenge is especially difficult with the United States, the biggest 
donor to the world body and its offshoots.

   WHO Europe regional director Hans Kluge said that with the pandemic at an 
acute stage, "this is not the time to cut back on funding."

   At the White House on Tuesday, Trump first said the United States would "put 
a hold" on WHO funding, and then revised that to say, "We will look at ending 
funding." He took aim particularly at its alleged criticism of the U.S. ban on 
travel to and from China.

   "The WHO ... receives vast amounts of money from the United States," Trump 
said. "And they actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the 
time I did it. And they were wrong. They've been wrong about a lot of things."

   Generally, the WHO has been careful not to criticize countries on their 
national polices, and it was not immediately clear what specific criticism 
Trump was alluding to.

   Trump's remarks came as many governments, particularly in Europe, have 
started to brush aside, ignore and criticize WHO recommendations on issues of 
public policy, like whether travel restrictions are warranted or whether the 
public should wear masks.

   In guidance that dates to Feb. 29, WHO advises against travel or trade 
restrictions with regard to countries facing the outbreak --- now nearly every 
country in the world --- arguing the measures could divert resources, prevent 
the delivery of aid and hurt economies.

   The United States contributed nearly $900 million to WHO's budget for 
2018-2019, according to information on the agency's website. That represents 
one-fifth of its total $4.4 billion budget for those years. The U.S. gave 
nearly three-fourths of the funds in "specified voluntary contributions" and 
the rest in "assessed" funding as part of Washington's commitment to U.N. 
institutions.

   A more detailed WHO budget document provided by the U.S. mission in Geneva 
showed the United States provided $452 million in 2019, including nearly $119 
million in assessed funding. In its most recent budget proposal from February, 
the Trump administration called for slashing the U.S. assessed funding 
contribution to the WHO to $57.9 million.

   Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated later Wednesday that the U.S. was 
reevaluating its WHO funding , saying that "it hasn't accomplished what it was 
intended to deliver."

   At the same White House briefing, Trump laid more criticism on the WHO, 
saying other countries give substantially less than the United States, 
particularly singling out China. "That's not good. Not fair, not fair at all," 
he said.

   Trump said the WHO "got it wrong" in response to the coronavirus. "They also 
minimized the threat very strongly," he said.

   Some world leaders and the U.N. officials rallied around Tedros and the 
agency, insisting a worldwide public health crisis was no time to reduce the 
budget of the entity working to coordinate an often-disjointed international 
response.

   U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the WHO "is absolutely critical 
to the world's efforts to win the war against COVID-19" and must be supported.

   Once the pandemic ends, he said, there must be an investigation into how it 
emerged and spread so quickly as well as into the reactions of all those 
involved in the crisis so lessons can be learned.

   The chair of the African Union's commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, wrote on 
Twitter: "Surprised to learn of a campaign by the U.S. govt against WHO's 
global leadership. The African Union fully supports WHO and Dr. Tedros." 

   In a video conference call Wednesday with Tedros, French President Emmanuel 
Macron reaffirmed "his belief that the WHO is key to respond to the crisis," in 
reference to Trump's comments, Macron's office said. 

   Some U.S. lawmakers piled on alongside Trump, with Sen. Marco Rubio of 
Florida calling for Tedros to resign.

   "Unfortunately, it has been politicized," he said of the WHO on Fox News. "I 
have deep concerns about it."


(KR)