No friends, for you know WHO
The spread of diseases has been so persistent throughout history that any sane person would be sick of it already. The earliest recorded pandemic struck Athens in 430 BC during the Peloponnesian war, this would be a conservative estimate, seeing that many bacterias are said to have been the earlier form of life. The pandemic spread through Libya, Egypt and Ethiopia before it destroyed the Athenians, just as the Spartans attacked, they writhed under a disease with typhoid like symptoms. It is said to have have killed around two thirds of the population and played a significant role in their defeat by the Spartans.
Of course the human civilisation has seen many other atrocities with much worse and recent consequences. The Black Death in the 14th century travelled through China, owing much of it's contagion surpassing borders to trade routes established by the Mongols. It has been credited with making vast changes including the collapse of the British Feudal system and often contributing to its subsequent imperialism. Of course, not to forget it wiping out nearly a third of the world's population. But that isn't anything special, is it? (Mongol voices intensify, they did kill 10 percent of the world after all)
The Spanish Flu of the 1918s is far more recent. It is said to have infected a third of the world's population at the time, around 500 million people. November 1918 is more famous as the end of the infamous world war 1, the war that was meant to end all wars (clearly not). It's 16 million haunting deaths pale in comparison to the 50 million that died due to this influenza pandemic.
Seeing that historians have never been apt at naming things, it isn't a surprise that the Spanish Flu didn't actually originate in Spain. Spain was neutral and non-combatant in WW1 and thus one of the only major countries that didn't censor it's media in an attempt to keep information hidden from any hostile nations. Thus, it ended up being one of the only countries to report on it, ensuring that we'd all remember the catastrophe through its name.
On the 7th of April in 1948, the World Health Organisation, commonly referred to as 'WHO' was established. On it's own website it established three prongs of it's work, universal health coverage, general health and well-being and finally 'health emergencies'. It promises to identify, mitigate and manage any risks that arise in situations not too dissimilar to the ones we face now amidst the Covid Pandemic. It also promises to help deliver essential health services in 'fragile settings' amidst emergencies of this kind.
In the past it has helped in various situations amongst war zones ranging from Syria and Yemen to places like Myanmar to the aid of the Rohingya. The Ebola virus, a epidemic throughout much of West Africa, has been a particular case in hand of it's active work (much well documented with pictures and videos throughout their website). But it isn't its past that has past encounter with diseases and the sick that has come into scrutiny these days, but instead it is its response to the novel coronavirus that has now made the papers.
Donald Trump, in the inflaming fashion that he usually likes to acquire, declared that the US is cutting ties with the WHO. He put the blame on it's ineptitude (to paraphrase) in dealing with the ongoing pandemic and its complacency with China. The WHO has "an alarming lack of independence," from China, as he put it and believes that it hadn't been harsh enough. Along with these jarring allegations he also accused of it of a lack of transparency when it came to the initial period of reaction.
Neither of these allegations are new, coming from the US President, however his decision to stop all funding has managed to turn heads due to it being the world's single largest contributor. In the last two year cycle of 2018 and 2019, it contributed around 20 percent of the total budget. This alarming move is just another of the president's unprecedented tactics to get his way, weather it be at home or abroad.
It was met with obvious backlash by the agency itself, and other leaders in Europe and across the world. While not many disagree that WHO needs significant improvement but, in times like this- of a pandemic- they all also agree that the solution is solidarity and global cooperation rather than isolation and burning bridges. But that hasn't stopped Mr. Trump in the past, thus we hold no reason to believe that it should hinder him now. This has left the world facing two unknowns, a virus and a new global outlook in which the US isn't an ally, let alone a leader.