Geneva, Feb 3: The World Health Organisation chief asked global leaders to lean on Washington to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN health agency, insisting in a closed-door meeting with diplomats last week that the US will miss out on critical information about global disease outbreaks.
But countries also pressed WHO at a key budget meeting last Wednesday about how it might cope with the exit of its biggest donor, according to internal meeting materials obtained by The Associated Press. A German envoy, Bjorn Kummel, warned: “The roof is on fire, and we need to stop the fire as soon as possible.” For 2024-2025, the US is WHO’s biggest donor by far, putting in an estimated $988 million, roughly 14% of WHO’s $6.9 billion budget.
The document said US funding “provides the backbone of many of WHO’s large-scale emergency operations”, covering up to 40%. (PTI)
