US President Donald Trump said recently that he will suspend US funding for WHO. This news shocked people all over the world who are struggling to fight the outbreak of new pneumonia.

On April 17, the world-famous media “Nature” published an editorial titled “Error and Danger to WHO’s Confessions”! It must be revoked. The editorial pointed out that at a critical moment in the fight against the epidemic, we need to support WHO to make it in its most powerful state, not to draw a salary and destroy it. Global researchers must urge national lawmakers to take immediate action against Trump’s destruction of this global health institution.


World Health Organization Director General Tan Desai. Image source: British “Nature” magazine website


“Break the supply” will put WHO ’s work at risk

Which is the most global health crisis in a century It is a dangerous thing for an intergovernmental agency capable of leading the world out of this crisis to hurt this agency, but this is exactly what happened recently.

The United States is one of the main founding members of WHO, but President Trump recently announced that he has instructed the executive team to suspend financial support to WHO and will A review of WHO ’s performance during the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, which may last for more than 3 months.

Since the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, WHO has been spared no effort to guide countries around the world to actively respond to the outbreak, but the Trump administration has increasingly criticized the agency. If the funds provided by the United States are lost, WHO’s response to the new coronary pneumonia epidemic and other relief efforts will be at risk.

It is not clear whether the White House can withhold this money-especially the part of the funds that the US Congress has approved, and if so, how much can be withheld, but, inAt a time when people around the world are in a health and economic crisis, such statements are condemning enough.

The impact of stopping the funding of WHO to those low-income countries is particularly significant, because in these countries, WHO ’s work is essential to maintain the local public health foundation The standard of the facility and the response to fatal diseases are crucial. WHO epidemiologists, doctors and logistics personnel are currently carrying out more than 35 emergency operations, including responding to the measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the cholera outbreak in Yemen.

In addition to emergency operations, WHO is also working to combat tuberculosis and diabetes, eradicate polio, and study tropical diseases. The agency ’s annual budget is approximately US $ 2.4 billion, of which the emergency budget is approximately US $ 280 million. In contrast, the US agency responsible for handling public health emergencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has a total budget of approximately $ 12.7 billion this year.


WHO ’s response to new coronary pneumonia is remarkable

For WHO, the pandemic has always been a major test. The agency has also been criticized for slow action before, but the world ’s top public health researchers and doctors agree that so far, during the response to the new coronary pneumonia pandemic, WHO ’s leadership has been remarkable. Moreover, the agency took corresponding actions based on the evidence received.

On December 31, China reported a group of cases of pneumonia to WHO. The next day, WHO established an accident management support team to enter a state of emergency against epidemics. Subsequently, WHO took many actions, including issuing and updating guidelines on how to diagnose new coronary pneumonia, reviewing diagnostic tests and distributing them around the world. The scientific department of the institution also convened a number of experts from around the world to evaluate candidate therapies, and on this basis, launched a large global clinical trial called “Unity” to test the efficacy of multiple candidate new coronary pneumonia therapies.

Recently, in view of the shortage of medical resources, WHO has established a supply chain management system to ensure that low-income countries can obtain testing reagents, medical equipment or protective equipment.

In addition, on January 30, WHO announced the new coronary pneumonia epidemic as an “emergency public health event of international concern”, requiring member states to follow their recommendations , Including the development of a complete and comprehensive testing program, isolation of suspected cases and tracking of close contacts, etc.

Germany, Singapore and South Korea acted quickly, but the United States ignored these recommendations. Even now, the country does not have a national infrastructure for detecting new coronavirus and tracking close contacts of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia.

In early March, WHO Director-General Tan Desai said: “If we do n’t know where it is (new coronavirus), we ca n’t fight it. This means We must take strong surveillance actions to detect, isolate, test and treat all cases and break the chain of transmission. “

But the Trump administration ignored these recommendations . On the contrary, some influential lawmakers in the United States have been calling for an investigation of WHO ’s actions, claiming that the agency ’s actions are too slow and no alarm has been issued.

It is of course important to learn from the various stages of this pandemic. Once it is over, many international agencies and countries will carry out investigations, sum up lessons learned, and find deficiencies, but Such investigations and inquiries will be an opportunity for improvement and growth, not a reason for sabotage or attack.


Combating the epidemic requires global homophobia

Coping with this pandemic requires coordinated action by all countries in the world, including how and when The blockade has been lifted, but we have not seen such a plan for more than three months since the outbreak. On April 19, the G20 National Health Ministers will convene a virtual meeting, at which time they must develop such plans, and the most promising is that all countries and WHO and other international institutions Work together to fight the epidemic.

Researchers, funding agencies and the government have always opposed Trump ’s decision, which is very correct, they must continue to do so in the most powerful way. American researchers and funders must also lobby lawmakers at all levels. The President and his government must not withhold funds allocated to WHO. Doing so will put more lives at risk and it will take longer for the world to escape this crisis.

About 70 years ago, the United States played a role in creating the WHO. Countries around the world are also aware that they need such institutions, partly because they cannot deal with a pandemic alone. Now, WHO is carrying out actions for its own mission, but at the same time, it must also fight for its future. This is tragic.

We need to support WHO in its most powerful state and lead the world out of the crisis, rather than ruin it at such a critical time.

(Originally titled “ published an editorial saying: The United States has” wrong supply “to WHO and is dangerous and dangerous!”)