| | | Chinese Media Outlet Invites WHO Experts to Criticize USA, But They Praise It Instead
By Patrick Goodenough | March 18, 2020 | 4:23am EDT
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom, left, and head of the WHO emergencies program Michael Ryan brief on the coronavirus outbreak. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – A reporter with China’s state news agency Xinhua implicitly invited World Health Organization (WHO) experts at a media briefing to criticize the Trump administration over its health funding decisions and response to the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, they thanked the Trump administration, and praised the U.S. public health sector.
The Xinhua correspondent, calling in to the briefing, said the Trump administration “has announced a plan to cut deep its global health funds in its 2021 budget proposal – that’s slashing more than three billion U.S. dollars in overall programs, including half of its annual funding to WHO.”
“So how does WHO think that would help combat the COVID-19? And could you also please give us an idea of how the U.S. has contributed to the global response to COVID-19 so far?
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was first to respond, beginning with global financial support for the outbreak response, and then moving on to the U.S.
“I think the support we’re getting for COVID-19, the response, is really encouraging. At the initial stage we were a little bit worried but now we’re getting almost close to the funding we asked for,” he said, adding that more support was anticipated.
“The announcement from U.S. is really significant, and we will expect actually more countries to contribute. But we’re almost close to the funding we asked for, based on the SPRP [ Strategic Preparedness Response Plan].”
After speaking about the response from the private sector and ordinary citizens, donating to a COVID-19 solidarity response fund, Tedros returned to the United States.
“I would like to use this opportunity, because you have identified the U.S. specifically, use this opportunity to thank the U.S. government, other governments, the private sector and all global citizens for their commitment. We’re all in this together. It’s a common enemy. And it’s our unity that will break this virus.”
Then WHO’s emergencies program director Michael Ryan, who was participating remotely, spoke.
“The U.S. public health service is one of the finest in the world, and not only has served the U.S. well but over the last 50 years has helped to train and develop technical systems all over the world – [indistinct] epidemiology training programs, laboratory networks and others,” he said.
“The National Institutes of Health, an amazing platform for primary research, for clinical trials and others. The FDA has been hugely helpful to WHO over the years, the regulatory aspects of developing medicines,” Ryan continued.
“And we thank them, all of those institutions. [NIH’s] Tony Fauci, Dr. [CDC Director Robert] Redfield and all of our colleagues at HHS for their technical and operational support to us, and to the world, over many, many years, and including in this response.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious diseases epidemiologist, said U.S. scientists and clinicians were “communicating with us regularly, you know, on the frontlines with us in terms of our gathering of information and evidence and sharing of experiences.”
“So, we have American scientists and clinicians and public health professionals who are involved in every single one of our technical networks,” she said. “And so we’re very grateful for them, as well as clinicians and public health professionals and scientists from all over the world, who are sharing their experiences with us, as we learn more about this virus and as that evidence is fed back into our response.”
US help for affected and at-risk developing countries
According to the State Department, the U.S. in February was preparing to send up to $100 million in existing State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds to help affected and at-risk countries to contain and combat the coronavirus.
By early March it had committed $37 million in assistance and protective equipment for more than 25 countries in Asia and Africa deemed to be high priority.
According to USAID, U.S. funds going to the WHO are designed to governments of affected or at-risk developing countries prepare their labs for large-scale testing, to implement public-health emergency plans for points of entry, to train and equip rapid-response teams, and to investigate cases and trace contacts.
In early February, the State Department also facilitated the delivery of almost 18 tons of donated relief supplies to the then outbreak epicenter, China’s Wuhan and Hubei province.
The U.S. has also offered help, in the form of humanitarian assistance and medical supplies, to Iran – one of the world’s hardest-hit countries – although the regime has thus far declined it.
Speaking at the State Department on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had spoken to WHO’s Tedros earlier in the day, and “we talked expressly about Iran and how America might be able to help. We made a commitment to do everything we can to provide them with all that America can deliver for Iran. I hope they’ll accept that offer.”
He voiced the hope Tehran would accept the offers of help, not just from the U.S. but also from other countries that “want to come help the Iranian people stay healthy and mitigate the risk that’s there.”
American taxpayers, through the State Department and USAID, have contributed more than $90 billion dollars for health globally since 2009, including more than $1.1. billion to prevent, detect and respond to emerging health threats and epidemics.
An already tense relationship between the U.S. and China took a turn for the worse in recent weeks, with Beijing angered by U.S. politicians drawing attention to the fact the coronavirus outbreak first emerged in China, and the U.S. angered by Chinese officials’ insinuations that the U.S. may be responsible for it.
On Tuesday, the Chinese foreign ministry moved to shut down leading U.S. media operations in China. |
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