President Trump’s executive order of 20 January is regrettable “and we hope the US will reconsider,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a speech to the organization’s executive board.

The WHO chief said he would welcome the opportunity “to preserve and strengthen the historic relationship between WHO and the US.”

Pushing back on the rationale laid out in the executive order, Tedros said WHO had implemented the deepest and most wide-ranging reforms in its history over the past seven years.

The US is the biggest donor by far to the agency, accounting for around 14 per cent of its $6.9 billion budget, according to latest WHO figures.

Addressing the US complaint that it is paying too much compared to other countries, Tedros said reducing reliance on the US and others who pay the most was a “critical element of our long-term plan to broaden our donor base.”

COVID record

Third, he rejected the accusation that WHO had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic:

“From the moment we picked up the first signals of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, we asked for more information, activated our emergency incident management system, alerted the world, convened global experts, and published comprehensive guidance for countries on how to protect their populations and health systems – all before the first death from this new disease was reported in China on the 11th of January 2020.”

Tedros also addressed the allegation that WHO lacks independence from “inappropriate political influence” by some Member States: “WHO is impartial and exists to serve all countries and all people,” he said.

“Our Member States ask us for many things, and we always try to help as much as we can. But when what they ask is not supported by scientific evidence or is contrary to our mission to support global health, we say no, politely.”

Last month, Donald Trump, immediately after his inauguration, signed an order to exit his nation from the World Health Organisation.

Stating the reason behind withdrawing from the international organisation, the executive order said: "The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states."

"In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.  China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO," the order had said.