US exiting WHO is not good: Ex- Chief Scientist Soumya

Donald Trump

Rama Krishna Sangem

Former chief scientist of the World Health Organisation, Soumya Swaminathan on Saturday said the US opting out of WHO would not be good for anyone including that country and contributions to the global health watchdog depends on the GDPs of respective countries.

Hoping that the US, which has so much technical and scientific expertise, will reconsider its decision, she said if it opts out, the North American nation would also be unable to access data of WHO to be part of solutions.

“The richer the country, the more you pay because you have to pay as a percentage of your GDP. The current system is very fair. You cannot expect a small country in the middle of Africa like Congo to pay the same amount as the United States,” Swaminathan told PTI Videos, on the sidelines of the Hyderabad Literary Festival here.

 

US pays $500 million to WHO

She was responding to US President Donald Trump’s comments that his country with 325 million population paid USD 500 million to the WHO against China with 1.4 billion people paying USD 39 million.

Trump recently signed an executive order beginning the process of withdrawing America from the WHO, the second time in less than five years that the US has made a move to withdraw from the world body.

She opined that for health security in the future and to protect people from pandemics, all countries, including the US, need to work together.

“Even the United States will actually find it difficult to access data to be part of solutions to know what is going on in the other parts of the world if they are not part of WHO,” Swaminathan said.

“I think it is really not good for anyone that such an important, such a large country is withdrawing.”

 

Asserting that health is interconnected and all the health risks are global, she said today viruses arising in one part of the world can spread around the world within 30 hours.

“So unless we have global collaboration and global policies and rules and regulations and understanding between countries, it is going to be impossible to address the threats to global health,” Swaminathan said.

She said the WHO is one place and platform where 193 countries come together and discuss issues, debate and arrive at a consensus before formulating rules like international health regulations and pandemic treaties.

Rama Krishna Sangem

Ramakrishna chief editor of excel India online magazine and website

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Rama Krishna Sangem

Excel India national news magazine is a media startup founded and piloted by Rama Krishna Sangem, a Hyderabad based senior journalist with over three decade experience in the field of media, mostly in print journalism. His rich experience in reporting for both Telugu and English newspapers and heading a TV news channel and some online outfits will be of immense use to this venture. Excel India English news magazine seeks to fill the gap of analytical understanding to our readers who today are confronted with myriad media platforms. Our online version not only offers regular updates and commentary on happenings around us, but also gives larger stories not limited by space constraints of a print magazine. Excel India is ably run by a team of senior journalists committed to values and quality standards in the profession. We urge you all to support and guide us in this endeavour. Reach us at excelindiaweb123@gmail.com