WHO's central role must be boosted-min

(ANSA) - Rome, May 19 - The World Health Organization's central role in the coronavirus pandemic must be reinforced, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said after United States President Donald Trump threatened to pull out of the WHO unless it makes "substantive improvements over the next 30 days".
    The WHO must be "completely independent of eternal political or financial influences, and must only be guided by the science".
    Trump late Monday threatened to permanently pull US funding from the WHO if it does not "commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days." In a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump said, "It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China.
    "My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly.
    We do not have time to waste." The threat comes at time when the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 90,000 Americans and more than 318,000 people worldwide as of late Monday and, while there are promising signs from some vaccine trials, there is no cure for the virus.
    The letter also underscores the extent to which blame aimed at the WHO and China has become a defining part of the president's response to the outbreak. When many of his predecessors would rely on global institutions to help stem the tide of a pandemic, Trump's ultimatum is the latest sign of his distrust toward world entities.