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UK should follow US lead and halt WHO funding, says IEA expert
Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, responded to President Trump’s decision to suspend funding for the World Health Organisation
“The coronavirus pandemic has shown that the World Health Organisation needs to be reformed or replaced.
“As the organisation’s second biggest funder, the UK should follow America’s lead. In 2018, the UK gave the WHO $200m, the equivalent of millions of face masks or thousands of ICU ventilators. It needs to be made clear that the WHO leadership has to be replaced and the agency has to return to its core mission of tackling epidemics with transparency, honesty and a single-minded focus.
“This is not the first time it has dropped the ball on infectious disease. The harsh truth is that it will not reform itself unless it is threatened with budget cuts.”
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Read the IEA’s response to Trump’s WHO announcement last week here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
