Health security

Trump Threatens to Withhold Money From ‘China-Centric’ WHO

President Trump on Tuesday said his administration would withhold money from the World Health Organization, the branch of the United Nations that handles global public health matters. Speaking about the W.H.O.’s response to the new coronavirus, he said, “They could’ve called it months earlier. They would have known. And they should have known. And they probably did know. So we’ll be looking into that very carefully. And we’re going to put a hold on money sent to the W.H.O.” Later he said his administration would only “look at ending funding.” He called the organization “China-centric” during the briefing and on Twitter earlier in the day. The W.H.O. declared COVID-19 a public health emergency on Jan. 30 and a global pandemic on March 11.