Donald Trump has had it with WHO when he saw the World Health Organisations’ leader canoodling with his main rival, China. The tantrum prone President said on Friday that his country is “terminating” its relationship with the World Health Organisation.
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House.
In a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier this month, Trump threatened to permanently cut off the nation’s funding to the WHO and “reconsider our membership” if the international body does not commit to what he called “substantive improvements within the next 30 days.”
Trump announced in mid-April that his administration would halt US funding to the WHO, a roundly-criticised move that many experts have said was trying to shift blames and would be counterproductive to addressing the public health crisis.
The divorce decision also comes after, Tedros was seen to attending to China more during the pandemic and accused of protecting China throughout the pandemic. During a visit by Tedros, President Xi announced a US$2 billion funding for the health agency to manage and handle the pandemic. This was noted by Trump as a direct snub of America and WHO leaning towards the east.
United States suffered to most with more than 1.7 million COVID-19 cases with over 102,000 deaths, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. Both figures are far higher than those in any other country or region.
