Trump's tiff with WHO

Even by his standards it is an extraordinary act of self-serving bias. At a time the world desperately needs to come together to fight the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump announced suspension of US funding to the World Health Organisation accusing it of "severely mismanaging the spread of coronavirus." Predictably, the decision has drawn a strong reaction from both inside and outside the country. Several world leaders joined UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in reminding the US President "now is the time for unity in the global battle to push Covid-19 pandemic into reverse, not a time to cut the resources of the WHO, which is spearheading and coordinating the global body's efforts." Among others in the US, Bill Gates, a major funder of the WHO, said halting funding during a world health crisis "is as dangerous as it sounds."

President Trump, of course, is not bothered about any facts or details once he makes up his mind to do something. In this case, he blames the WHO of favouring China - whom he now accuses of lacking transparency in dealing with the contagion - and "its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions on China and other nations." The global health body may have been slow in responding to the challenge but it is unfair, at least for Trump, to criticise it for "defending the actions of the Chinese government, even praising its so-called transparency." Until not long ago he himself was doing the same, saying in a January 24 tweet "China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well..." Two weeks later, when asked by a journalist if China was engaged in a cover-up, he replied, "No, China is working very hard ... and I think they're doing a very professional job. They're in touch with World Health [Organization]."

What has changed his mind at this point in time clearly is the criticism he faces for failure to recognise the threat for what it was in a timely fashion and taking necessary measures to stop its spread. He had been trying to downplay its seriousness declaring at a media briefing Easter - April 12 - "a great timeline" for return to normal life for the US or large portions of it. He has also been talking of restarting the economy with a bang. Instead the infections rate kept mounting, and on the day he announced his decision to defund the WHO, the US was reporting some 26,000 causalities, outnumbering all other countries' individual mortality rate. Getting blamed for poor handling of the challenge was the last thing Trump needed in the run-up to the election. Hence, he has pointed the finger at the WHO. But suspension of funds to it at a time the confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide have crossed the two million mark is fraught with grave danger. The US president needs to review his decision not only to help poor and middle income nations beat back the virus and deal with other health emergencies, but also to stop a second round from playing havoc in today's interconnected world all over again.