# World Health Organization - good? bad? meh? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807 "2020-04-15T00:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/21 "2020-04-16T14:01:17Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > One of the biggest problems with WHO is that it does not have dedicated funding streams, so its financial resources are unreliable and make long term programming difficult. It is a uniquely American fix to the problem to cut its funding. ”You seem to have sprained your wrist. Here, let’s apply a tourniquet…around your neck.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/22 "2020-04-16T14:49:15Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > The World Health Organization of the United Nations, which as a body does not recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Taiwan [and has not since it transferred China’s seats to the Peoples Republic of China in 1971](https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/taiwans-un-dilemma-to-be-or-not-to-be/). This isn’t a WHO problem; this is a larger geopolitical problem of not recognizing that there are two independent Chinese nations. The WHO doesn’t have to recognize Taiwan as an independent nation in order to allow it to participate in WHO activities (or at the very least consider its input). The current WHO leadership appears to cater to China in being [implacably hostile](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/taiwan-protests-leaders-accusations-racist-campaign-70057577) towards Taiwan, despite its good record of anticipating and handling the coronavirus pandemic. _“The incumbent (director-general), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, appears to have overtly colluded with China before and during the pandemic, has consistently supported Taiwan’s exclusion, and added insult to injury by accusing Taiwan of racism when it disclosed its December warning of an impending crisis. He needs to be replaced by a competent public health specialist who is experienced in pandemics and immune from China’s politicization.”_ [http://thehill.com/opinion/international/492777-taiwan-chinas-nemesis-could-be-the-whos-salvation](http://thehill.com/opinion/international/492777-taiwan-chinas-nemesis-could-be-the-whos-salvation) China even managed to block Taiwan from taking part in the annual World Health Assembly. If any good comes out of the current WHO-bashing, it should include allowing Taiwanese participation in its programs. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/23 "2020-04-16T18:09:46Z")
Sounds like a mixed bag of mostly good with some stoopid mixed in, like most things. I’m guessing that the former outweighs the latter, for the most part, which makes Trump’s tantrum over it just another attempted distraction from his own incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Majestic\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Majestic\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Majestic_Lee)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/24 "2020-04-16T18:29:35Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > The Who is a British rock band that first came to prominence in the 1960s. The WHO is the World Health Organisation. :smack:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/25 "2020-04-16T19:29:52Z")
International pandemics are not an issue we can just ignore. I doubt many people would disagree with that position right now. So even if the WHO is ninety percent bad and only ten percent good (which I doubt) then we should still continue funding it for the sake of that ten percent of good work it does while we set up a new organization which will do better. Trump’s decision to cut off funding to the WHO in the middle of a pandemic is the equivalent of cutting off funding to the armed forces in the middle of a war. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807/26 "2020-04-16T20:55:08Z")
> [@Majestic\_Lee](#): > > :smack:😃 “It’s not the craw, it’s the craw”. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-health-organization-good-bad-meh/851807.md?page=1)