Islamabad urges Trump to review defunding of WHO amid global health crisis

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is addressing a media briefing in Islamabad on April 16, 2020. (AN photo)

• Says WHO has a critical role to play fighting pandemic and should be supported by everyone
• The US president on Tuesday announced to stop WHO funding, criticizing its response to COVID-19

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on Thursday called on the US President Donald Trump to review his decision of suspending funding to the World Health Organization’s amid coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 136,000 lives around the world.
“President Trump should review his decision of defunding the WHO in the middle of a global health crisis,” he said during a media briefing in Islamabad. “It is time to increase global cooperation against a common enemy.”
President Trump on Tuesday announced the American decision to stop funding the WHO, criticizing its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and defending his own handling of the contagion in the US.
Qureshi said the WHO had a critical role to play under the circumstances and it should be supported by everyone.
“There is no time for divisions since we are trying to stop the spread of the pandemic. The WHO has a lot of responsibilities and a major role to play in this fight against COVID-19. If we will cut their funding it will decrease their resources and increase their difficulties to fulfill their responsibilities,” he continued, adding that many world leaders had already appealed to the US president to reconsider his decision since it was going to negatively impact global efforts against the coronavirus outbreak.
“He (Trump) may have certain complaints against the WHO,” the foreign minister said, “but these can be addressed through dialogue.”
The WHO chief expressed “regret” on President Trump’s decision to suspend the US funding for the agency on Wednesday and called for “solidarity” to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
“We regret the decision of the president of the United States to order a hold in funding to the World Health Organization,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference, adding that the US was “a longstanding and generous friend to the WHO and we hope it will continue to be so.”
The WHO chief said that the world body did not discriminate and stressed that it was “time for all of us to be united in our common struggle against a common threat.”
A health expert, Dr. Babar Saeed, who happens to be a former WHO consultant, said that Trump’s decision would affect the world agency’s capacity to deal with the huge challenge at hand.
“The cut in funds will adversely affect the organization’s ability to provide assistance to different countries against the pandemic. The WHO is involve in building the capacity of different countries against any health emergency,” he told Arab News.
“The WHO needs to provide them technical assistance, team management, and guidance in other policy matters,” Saeed said. “This is especially true of developing countries that lack the required resources to deal with such challenges.”