US President Donald Trump has threatened to permanently halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) if it does not commit to “substantive improvements” within 30 days.
In a letter to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, Trump criticised what he said were repeated “missteps” in the global health agency’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The “only way forward for the [WHO] is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China,” Trump wrote.
“If the WHO does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the WHO permanent and reconsider our membership,” he said in the letter posted on Twitter.
Trump suspended the United States’s contributions to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the coronavirus outbreak. Officials at the United Nations health agency have denied the accusations and China says it has been transparent and open.
