UN health agency on defensive after Trump slams it on virus

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 defence 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 organisation'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 politicising it.”

Avoiding any direct mention of Trump, Tedros' comments testified to the often-delicate task faced by U.N. leaders when criticised 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 criticised 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 criticise countries on their national policies, 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 criticise 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 regards 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. -- AP