Among a series of executive orders signed after arriving at the White House on Monday night, President Donald Trump formally withdrew the US from the World Health Organization (WHO), saying the broad body that monitors the pandemic had “ripped off” the US.
The US is the largest funder of the WHO, which monitors disease outbreaks around the world. The US also contributes to WHO’s work, including through partnerships with the CDC and NIH on issues such as cancer prevention and global health security.
Trump’s executive order is an attempt to finish what he started in his last presidency and is guaranteed to succeed this time. Trump withdrew the US from the WHO in 2020, but the withdrawal must be announced a year in advance. Biden took office six months later and rescinded Trump’s action before it took effect.
This time, US withdrawal will again be a one-year process, confirmed Lawrence Gostin, professor of law and global health at George Washington University and director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on Public Health Law. & Human Rights.
But Trump is likely to act as if he has already withdrawn, walking away from the WHO, and without a bipartisan agreement from Congress to overturn Trump’s action, which is unlikely, the WHO will officially lose its biggest funder by 2026.
“And these are the things that really matter to America, like HIV, AIDS, polio eradication and responding to health emergencies,” Gostin told ABC News. “Really, in my opinion, this is shooting yourself and making America less safe and less secure.”
UKRAINE – 01/31/2024: In this photo illustration, the logo of the World Health Organization (WHO) is seen on a smartphone and in the background. (Photo illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sopa Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Trump, when asked by a reporter on Monday night about his experience leading the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the WHO in the global response to pandemics, said the withdrawal was “demolition”.
“Everybody rips up the United States and that’s it, it’s not going to happen again,” Trump said.
The text of the executive order describes an “unfair” demand for “hard payments from the United States out of proportion to payments from other countries.”
“China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, but contributes nearly 90 percent less to WHO,” the executive order said.
Gostin confirmed that China pays much less to the WHO. “But just because China has to pay more doesn’t mean we have to pay less. This is not leverage against China. This is destroying the World Health Organization,” Gostin said.
Gostin said the WHO has a unique global reach, providing the US with vital insight into the global health system and enabling scientific research collaborations, and while he acknowledged some reforms are needed, he said leaving the organization was a “cataclysmic presidential decision.” that would be “a serious wound to the health of the world, but a still deeper wound to the United States.”
