Jeremy Konyndyk, former head of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, was sharply critical of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telling Devex on Thursday that he gives the Trump administration’s efforts “a D … verging on F.”
In an interview with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar, Konyndyk, currently a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, discussed a range of issues related to the impact of COVID-19 on the low- and middle-income countries.
Konyndyk weighed in on the latest political controversy over the World Health Organization’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the health agency could have shown more urgency but otherwise performed well when it came to providing timely and accurate information to member states.
More interviews with humanitarian leaders on COVID-19. Watch:
• Mark Dybul calls for global task force
• Unacceptable — community health workers without protective gear
• Amref Health Africa CEO on the impact on NGO finances
• How Jan Egeland sees the crisis developing
• How behavioral science is changing the response
Visit our dedicated COVID-19 page for news, job opportunities, and funding insights.
About the author
Raj Kumarraj_devex
Raj Kumar is the President and Editor-in-Chief at Devex, the media platform for the global development community. He is a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His work has led him to more than 50 countries, where he has had the honor to meet many of the aid workers and development professionals who make up the Devex community. He is the author of the book "The Business of Changing the World," a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.