The World Health Organization(WHO) is based in Geneva,Switzerland and is an agency of the United Nations. WHO is responsible for international public health. The agency tracks global public health crises from epidemics to pandemics and everything in between. It also acts a conduit for sharing critical information between countries with regards to health. For example, the WHO is tracking the COVID-19 crisis and has created a dashboard to track cases across the world.

The WHO is under increased scrutiny these days with the US threatening to cut funding. The US is the top contributor to the WHO. So any reduction in contributions would have an adverse effect on the operations of WHO. Whether the US is trying to truly shift its failings and disastrous management of the current crisis on some other organization such as the WHO or if the WHO failed to perform its duties is a question of debate.

To add some perspective on the sources of funding for WHO it is important to look at the top contributing countries. The US was the top contributor last year and it was also assesses about $58 million this year. The assessed amount must be paid by each country in addition to any voluntary contribution. China is the second top contributor followed at about half the US amount and Japan is the third as shown in the chart below:

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Source: RFE/RL Infographics

Update (6/6):

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Source: The BBC

Update (7/14/20):

Source: WHO struggles to prove itself in the face of Covid-19, FT, July 12, 2020

Railroad stocks have relatively held up well so far thus year compared to the overall market. While stocks in the airlines, hospitality, cruise line sectors have been decimated major North American railroad stocks have also declined but not much. In fact Canadian Pacific(CP) and Kansas State Southern (KSU) are in the positive territory compared to others.

The following chart shows the year-to-date return of major North American railroads:

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Source: Yahoo Finance

Related Stocks:

1. Company: Canadian National Railway Co (CNI)
2. Company: Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd(CP)
3. Company: CSX Corp (CSX)
4. Company: Kansas City Southern (KSU)
5. Company: Union Pacific(UNP)
6. Company: Norfolk Southern Corp(NSC)

Disclosure: Long CSX, NSC, UNP and CNI

Hand Sanitizer is one of the items that is out of stock in most stores these days in the US. Despite increase in production, it is becoming hard to find it. When it is available, stores have started to ration them at one per order. For many weeks now, stories have been floating around the internet that some folks are making their own. So how do you make your own hand sanitizer? The below graphic provides the answer:

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Source: RFE/RL

Social distancing means giving a gap of at least six 6 feet between one another. Practicing this rule will help decrease the spread o COVID-19. The following infographic shows why social distancing is so important in these unprecedented times:

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Source: RFE/RL

What happens when you wash your wash your hands with soap? Why is hand-washing for 20 seconds is the most important defense against COVID-19? The following neat infographic provides the answer to those questions and more:

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Source: RFE/RL