Trump withdraws us from the World Health Organization

President Trump quickly moved on Monday to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. It's a move that public health experts say will undermine the nation's position as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.

In an executive order issued about eight hours after he took the oath of office, Trump accused the World Health Organization of “misdirecting the Covid-19 pandemic” and “failing to adopt urgently needed reforms,” ​​among other charges. I cited the reasons for the withdrawal. . ” He said the agency was demanding “unreasonably onerous payments” from the United States and complained that China was paying less.

This move was not unexpected. Trump has opposed the WHO since 2020, attacking the agency over its approach to the coronavirus pandemic and threatening to withhold funding from the United States. In July 2020, Trump took formal steps to withdraw from the government.

However, the threat did not materialize after he lost the 2020 election. On his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. blocked it from going into effect.

Leaving the WHO means, among other things, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer have access to the global data provided by the agency. When China characterized the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus in 2020, it released the information to the WHO.

Most recently, the WHO announced a new initiative to strengthen pandemic preparedness and set legally binding policies for member states on pathogen surveillance, rapid sharing of outbreak data, and building local manufacturing and supply. has been targeted by conservatives over its research on the Pandemic Treaty. Chains for vaccines and treatments, among others.

Talks on the treaty collapsed last year. In the United States, some Republican lawmakers saw the deal as a threat to American sovereignty.

Lawrence O. Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University who helped negotiate the treaty, said it was a “terrible wound” to public health, but “an even deeper wound to America's national interests and national security.” He said he would withdraw from the United States. ”

The World Health Organization, founded in 1948 with support from the United States, is an agency of the United Nations. Its mission, according to its website, is to “confront the greatest health challenges of our time and make the well-being of people around the world measurable.”

This includes bringing aid to war-torn areas like Gaza and tracking emerging outbreaks such as Zika, Ebola and Covid-19. The biennial budget, which is about $6.8 billion. The United States typically contributes a large share.

Gostin said it will take time for the U.S. to withdraw. The joint resolution adopted by Congress in establishing the agency addresses a potential withdrawal, giving the United States one year's notice and requiring the organization to pay its financial obligations for the current fiscal year.