RW writes to US President asking him to reconsider withholding funds to WHO

Thursday, 16 April 2020 19:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has written to US President Donald Trump requesting him to reconsider the decision to withhold funding of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In a letter sent to the US President today (16 April), Wickremesinghe said he learnt with great concern of the allegations levelled against the WHO by the United Sates of American (USA) which are serious and should, no doubt, be investigated but requested the US to restore the funding to the organisation pending investigation and thereafter determine the appropriate course of action.

“I understand that the American taxpayers provide $ 400-500 million in funding to the WHO each year. Your decision to place a hold on all funding to the WHO while its mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic is investigated will have a colossal and detrimental impact on programs in countries like Sri Lanka, which are funded by the WHO,” the UNP Leader said in the letter.

He said the US President would agree with him that the COVID-19 global pandemic had had a disastrous impact on local economies and crippled civilian life in all countries in ways that were unprecedented and perhaps even ambiguous at present.

“Consequently, it is vital that the WHO continues its program of action at that juncture given the lack of any other multilateral institution to provide global leadership to international health and safety issues in the coming month,” he said.

The UNP Leader said that in view of the grim impact that COVID-19 has created, he requested the US President to reconsider the decision on humanitarian grounds and restore the US funding to the WHO, pending investigation, and thereafter determine the appropriate course of action.