May 13, 2020 - Politics & Policy

WHO's coronavirus envoy: We're seeing a "fracture in global leadership"

David Nabarro. Photo: Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

David Nabarro, an envoy for the World Health Organization on COVID-19, said Tuesday that the world is experiencing a "fracture in global leadership" amid responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The people of the world actually should be going completely crazy with anger. There should be a petition of 500 million people to the world leaders saying, 'What on Earth are you doing?'"

— David Nabarro

He added: "We have the biggest crisis of all time in many of our livelihoods and you're squabbling. You're squabbling over whether World Health Organization should be killed or kept alive when the world needs the World Health Organization more than ever."

Between the lines: The WHO has been politicized amid the coronavirus pandemic, including President Trump's move to withdraw funding from the organization.

The WHO is the only global institution tasked with targeting infectious diseases at a worldwide level, Axios' Bryan Walsh writes.

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