DURBAN- United States President Donald Trump recently announced that his country would be cancelling its World Health Organisation (WHO) funding. This could mean that finding a cure for COVID-19 would be further from achieving than previously determined.
WHO's purpose is to improve the health of the world’s population.
It is funded by two sources, a membership from countries known as “assessed contributions” and voluntary donations.
The US is reported to contribute more than US$400 million, however, they are already US$200 million in arrears.
Without funding from the US, WHO is most likely to go bankrupt during a pandemic, although it is unclear whether that would happen during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular.
The loss of US funding could also result in middle-income countries that are funded by WHO losing medical staff.
The loss of staff could cause delays in medical research, providing medical and technical assistance to countries as well as help countries fight pandemics.
In addition, if the US cuts funding to other WHO initiatives it could result in low-income countries not being able to access vital medication.
CORONAVIRUS MONITOR