China announces additional $30M in funding for World Health Organization
China said on Thursday it would donate a further $30 million US to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is seeking more than $1 billion to fund its battle against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 people worldwide.
The donation aimed to support the global fight against COVID-19, in particular strengthening health systems in developing countries, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. She noted that China had already donated $20 million to the WHO on March 11.
“At this crucial moment, supporting WHO is supporting multilateralism and global solidarity,” Hua said on Twitter.
The pledge comes about a week after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that U.S. funding would be halted while Washington reviewed the WHO’s role “in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” The review, he said, was likely to take 60 to 90 days.
Trump accused the Geneva-based organization of promoting Chinese “disinformation” about the virus, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan last year.
On Wednesday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hoped the Trump administration would reconsider its decision.
“I hope the U.S. believes that this an important investment, not just to help others, but for the U.S. to stay safe also,” Tedros said during a virtual briefing.
U.S. contributions are appropriated by Congress
The United States contributed more than $400 million to the WHO in 2019, or roughly 15 per cent of the organization’s budget.
The WHO’s 2020-2021 budget, approved by health ministers last May, amounts to nearly $4.85 billion in total and represents a 9 per cent rise from the previous two-year period.
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Trump’s announcement drew international condemnation, coming as it did just over one month after the WHO declared the spread of the novel coronavirus a pandemic, and there are fears it could impact other efforts in global health. The U.S. provides several hundred million dollars to the WHO every year in voluntary funding tied to specific programs like polio eradication, vaccine-preventable disease, HIV and hepatitis, tuberculosis, and maternal and newborn health.
It also set up another potential fight on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House in normal times does not have the ability to unilaterally redirect funding, which is appropriated by Congress.
After Trump made his announcement, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was “dangerous, illegal and will be swiftly challenged.”
Some Democrats even said they may try to include funding for the WHO in the next coronavirus relief bill.