Ireland quadruples WHO contribution for 2020 after US withdraws funding

Ireland is backing the World Health Organisation.

Ireland will quadruple its contribution to the World Health Organisation in the wake of the US decision to halt its funding. US President Donald Trump said the WHO had "failed in its basic duty" in its response to the coronavirus outbreak. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney announced the news on social media on Thursday and reiterated Ireland's support for the organisation. The move means Ireland will contribute €9.5 million to the WHO this year. "Ireland strongly supports WHO in efforts to coordinate a global response to combat Covid-19," Coveney wrote. "So many countries rely on UN expertise and capacity to save lives. Ireland is quadrupling our normal annual financial contribution to WHO for 2020 to €9.5 million." https://twitter.com/simoncoveney/status/1250722601930014728 Coveney previously called Trump's decision to pull US funding from the WHO "indefensible" and called for "unity" in order to save lives. The WHO is a body responsible for international health and is part of the United Nations. Its stated goal is to ensure "the highest attainable level of health for all people". Trump claims the organisation was slow in raising the alarm over the global threat from the coronavirus and being too “China-centric” in its response. "I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organisation's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. The WHO and its director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have praised China's response to the virus, saying its actions significantly slowed the spread of the virus and gave other countries time to prepare. It also pointed out that China shared the genetic code of the virus very quickly which allowed other countries to begin work on diagnostic tests and vaccines. However, funding for the WHO has been in Trump's mind for a little while with his administration previously suggesting cutting its contribution by half in February as part of $3bn worth of cuts to US global health funding across the board.