António Guterres said that Washington chose the wrong time.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres believes that this is not the time to suspend contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO). He made this statement against the background of the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to suspend funding for the organization in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.
“This is not the time to reduce resources for the work of WHO or any other humanitarian organization fighting the virus”, – Guterres said. – “I believe that WHO must be supported, it is imperative that the world wins the war against COVID-19.
“The World Health Organization, with thousands of its staff, is fighting on the frontlines to help nations and their societies, especially the most vulnerable, by providing advice, equipment and training to health workers”, – added the UN administration head.
He stressed that “lessons will have to be learned from the pandemic,” but noted that “the time has not yet come for this.
The American leader told a briefing at the White House on Tuesday that he had instructed the administration to suspend contributions to WHO “pending an assessment of the organization’s role in poor governance and the cover-up of coronavirus proliferation data. Earlier, Trump had repeatedly criticized WHO’s actions.