Internists Say U.S. Funding for WHO is Essential during COVID-19 Pandemic

Statement attributable to:
Robert McLean, MD, MACP
President, American College of Physicians

Washington, DC (April 15, 2020) —The American College of Physicians is gravely concerned that President Trump’s decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) will undermine the effort to make progress on the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and across the world. We should be focusing on ways that we can encourage and improve global collaboration. We should be focusing on supporting science to allow us to make evidence-based decisions that will help us in our efforts to slow the spread of the virus, build up health system capacity, and save lives, in the United States and worldwide. We believe that cutting funding to WHO at this critical moment will move us further away from those goals. We urge the President to immediately restore U.S. funding to WHO, and for Congress to take appropriate action to ensure its continued funding.

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About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 159,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Contact: Jackie Blaser, (202) 261-4572, jblaser@acponline.org