Europe must nurse itself after US aid cuts: WHO director

Copenhagen: Drastic aid cuts, notably by the United States, have made it vital for Europe to better manage health resources, the director of WHO Europe told AFP.

"We have a huge challenge, because the majority of our programmes were funded by USAID and the US," Hans Kluge of the World Health Organization Europe told AFP in an interview days before a meeting of the 53 countries of the WHO European region.

Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has slashed US international aid and effectively dismantled USAID, the world's largest humanitarian aid agency.

Kluge said the WHO was experiencing an "existential" crisis with countries such as Britain, France and Germany, in addition to the United States, contributing significantly less.

Despite a 20-percent budget cut, WHO