I have a friend who describes her experience wading through the pandemic as paralyzing.
In the first few weeks of the social distancing orders, she says she found herself just standing there at times, staring off into the distance with an utter sense of loss.
It’s a familiar feeling. Even with so much to be grateful for, there’s static that surrounds us– a heaviness that lingers around the edges, as my friend puts it.
“It’s a pretty big presence to try to push away with positivity right now,” she counseled me.
Amidst the stillness, what sometimes feels like paralyzation, there are actions taken, decisions made– like President Trump’s decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) during a global pandemic— with sweeping consequences.
Trump’s plan to defund WHO has been met with mobilization by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and partner civil society organizations who are joining forces to support WHO. You can read IBFAN’s full statement of support to WHO from April 11 here.
Patti Rundall is the Policy Director Baby Milk Action, Global Advocacy IBFAN.
“We have been one of the most outspoken NGOs, calling for WHO to adopt a sound conflict of interest policy to safeguard its independence and resist the unjustified influence of powerful interests, be they commercial or political,” she writes in an email to Our Milky Way. “…All our criticisms are focused on supporting WHO in its unique role as the world’s coordinating authority in setting global health norms.”
Specifically, WHO “is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19,” as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declares in a UN News story.
Guterres goes on to say in that piece that it is “not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus.”
Bill Gates on Twitter writes: “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.” The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s voluntary contribution to WHO is second to the U.S.’s assessed and voluntary contributions. [More here.]
Rundall adds: “WHO is needed to guide not only country responses to COVID-19 but also the host of other global threats that we face – not least global heating, new viruses, antimicrobial resistance and non-communicable diseases.”
Rundall explains that “the U.S. is not the only nation to lobby against the much needed increases of Member States assessed contributions, but it is one of the most powerful.”
“For goodness sake, WHO’s total annual budget of $2.5bn is about the same as the budget of a large US hospital,” she puts the money into perspective.
Even without defunding, WHO is already underfunded.
Even as many of us are feeling debilitated to some degree, Rundall offers suggestions on how to take action for good.
“We hope that US citizens– and especially anyone working in infant and young child health– will remember the critically important role that WHO has had in child survival,” she begins. “and do everything they can: write to politicians, media, social media, friends and distance themselves from President Trump’s statements about health.” [Link added.]
Rundall directs us to the Society for International Development’s stance on Trump’s move which reiterates the G2H2 statement as well as an open letter of support to WHO and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gebrheyesus in BMJ.
Visit Rundall’s frequently updated policy blog here.