Washington could cooperate with WHO despite controversy over coronavirus

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday he was open to cooperation with WHO to fight polio, despite the decision of the United States to freeze funding to the United Nations for its management the coronavirus pandemic.

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On April 14, Donald Trump announced that the United States was suspending its contribution to the budget of the World Health Organization, accusing it of having acted too late and of having blindly supported China, which had downplayed the extent of the disease. The United States is the largest donor to the WHO, with a contribution of more than $ 400 million a year, which also helps fight other diseases such as polio and malaria.

“We are trying to find out if there are things (within WHO) that still make sense. She has done good work in some places on polio, and other similar things, "said Mike Pompeo to conservative radio host Chris Stigall.

In another interview, Pompeo said that "we need to look at whether there are things we should continue to participate in because (WHO) is doing good work on polio or other things."

WHO's campaigns to fight the diseases had already been disrupted by the coronavirus epidemic, but Mr. Trump's announcement heightened the concern of experts. Michel Zaffran, who heads the WHO polio program, told AFP in April that infections could rebound after the interruption of vaccination campaigns because of the pandemic, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the disease remains endemic.

Pompeo's statements come as a parliamentary commission recently asked the State Department to justify Trump's decision to freeze funding for the WHO during a pandemic. According to this Democrat-controlled commission, the Republican president is seeking to divert attention from his own failures in managing the health crisis, which killed more than 73,000 people in the United States, the country most affected by the the coronavirus.