Cutting funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) will seriously hamper the ability to combat COVID-19 and hit the world's most vulnerable hardest, World Vision acting CEO Graham Strong says.
Mr Strong was speaking after the United States Government on Wednesday announced a freeze of $US400 million ($AU624 million) in funding for WHO over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Strong said a strong and well resourced WHO had never been more important, as it played a pivotal role in dealing with global health issues - any cut to its funding amid the COVID-19 crisis would seriously compromise the ability to fight it, he said.
"This is the worst possible time to cut funding (to WHO) because we don't know the potential impact of COVID-19 in low-developing and vulnerable communities that don't have the circumstances for people to socially-distance, or provide adequate health support to their people. This decision could be disastrous for many communities," Mr Strong said.
Mr Strong said WHO played a crucial role in co-ordinating the response to health crises globally, by selecting and engaging the world's humanitarian organisations to act and provide support.
"WHO provides the vital [health cluster] mechanism that is needed to respond to such crises," he said. "Any cut to funding will limit the humanitarian community providing what is needed on the ground to combat the worst pandemic in a century, COVID-19.
"And bear in mind, WHO isn't just dealing with COVID-19, but a range of other diseases, such as polio, measles, malaria, Ebola, HIV, TB, malnutrition, cancer, diabetes and mental health, among others."
With more than two decades working in global humanitarian settings, Mr Strong said he had seen first-hand WHO's work, adding that any reduction in resources would hurt those most in need.
"This is not just harming WHO, but a whole humanitarian community that is trying to work out how to respond on the ground and, ultimately, that means it's hurting the people in highly vulnerable communities right across the world."
A recent World Vision report found that the secondary effects alone of COVID-19 put up to 30 million children at risk of death and disease.
The report found that COVID-19 would seriously compromise children's access to vaccination and general healthcare, and increase the likelihood of malnutrition, making the secondary effects of pandemic would be more harmful to children than the virus itself.
