CNN’s chief international anchor has called out US President Donald Trump withdrawal of WHO funding.
Christiane Amanpour, who also hosts CNN International’s nightly interview program Amanpour, likened the freezing of the funding to the aftermath of the September 9/11 attack.
“Defunding @WHO in the middle of a pandemic is like pulling the plug on firefighters in the aftermath of 9/11,” Amanpour tweeted on Wednesday.
The journalist has previously said she wants to “neutralize” President Trump’s rhetoric attacking the media as the “enemy of the people.”
She joins other global opinion influencers and shapers in the criticism against Trump.
Bill Gates said halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.
“Their work is slowing the spread of Covid-19 and if that work is stopped, no other organization can replace them. The world needs WHO now more than ever,” he said.
Gates, an American business magnate and philanthropist and the founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged up to $100 million to help contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
Manu Raju, the CNN senior Congressional Correspondent, quoted Senator Patrick Leahy as saying,“Withholding funds for WHO in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century makes as much sense as cutting off ammunition to an ally as the enemy closes in. This White House knows that it grossly mishandled this crisis from the beginning”.
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the UK-based Lancet medical journal, wrote Trump’s decision to defund WHO: “a crime against humanity … Every scientist, every health worker, every citizen must resist and rebel against this appalling betrayal of global solidarity.”
