Trump’s halting WHO funding ‘just doesn’t make any sense’
Bill Gates says he did not agree with President Trump’s move to halt U.S. funding to the World Health Organization.
“I’m hopeful that he doesn’t follow through on that because we need their support. This is a global problem. They are the institution that, you know, brings nations together and make sure that, you know, that were sharing best practices between all of those countries,” said Gates.
“There’ll be plenty of time to look back and see which countries did things well, which didn’t, where should WHO have done things differently, but we’re very supportive of the role WHO plays,” Gates said. “You know, they’re the ones who helped eradicate smallpox. They, you know, see what’s going on globally. And so I hope that doesn’t actually happen.”
On Tuesday, Trump said he was halting funding to the World Health Organization and accused the United Nations agency of “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the novel coronavirus” by “parrot(ing)” Chinese government data and not “call(ing) out China’s lack of transparency.”
His decision has been criticized by lawmakers who challenge its legality, public health experts who say it undermines the global fight against COVID-19, critics who argue Trump is searching for a scapegoat after he was slow to act and similarly praised China’s initial response, and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a conservative business lobby, which said the timing is wrong.
Bill Gates said that he and Melinda Gates had tweeted their support for the WHO.
