Bill Gates has announced that Donald Trump’s plan to halt the World Health Organization’s US funding “during a world health crisis” is as “dangerous as it sounds.”
Bill Gates tweet read:
“Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”
Donald Trump said in a statement that the World Health Organization has “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable.”
In the days following the initial outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, he criticized the organization for spreading China’s “disinformation” about the virus.
The virus, which has infected nearly two million people worldwide as of the time of writing, may have been controlled at its origins had the WHO been successful at analyzing the original reports originating from China, Trump said.
The United States is one of the largest financial contributors to the World Health Organisation. In February, Trump’s administration asked for a cut of America’s funding from $122.6m to $57.9m.
Trump’s move comes as his treatment of the COVID-19 crisis is progressively being questioned.
Despite his assertions of success, it recently emerged that he was warned as early as January about the virus and its devastating ability.
The United States had the first cases of coronavirus on 21 January, a man in his 30s-but Trump said a day later: “It’s going to be fine.”
Trump’s press reports have concentrated on advocating hydroxychloroquine, a medicine that has not been medically validated to cure the virus, as well as avoiding criticism and criticizing reporters and rival politicians.
The Panthera Post 