Alleging mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises, U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the United States will exit the World Health Organization (WHO).
He made this announcement just hours after his inauguration on Monday.
NOTICE FOR EXIT
Under U.S. law, leaving the WHO requires a one-year notice period, and the payment of any outstanding fees.
FAILURE TO ACT INDEPENDENTLY
Trump said the WHO had failed to act independently from the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and required “unfairly onerous payments” from the U.S. that are disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such as China.
“World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said at the signing of an executive order on the withdrawal, shortly after his inauguration to a second term.
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Financial Crisis For WHO?
The move means the U.S. will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months’ time and stop all financial contributions to its work.
The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding.
Notably, WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion.
The U.S. departure will likely put at risk programmes across the organisation, according to several experts both inside and outside the WHO, notably those tackling tuberculosis, the world’s biggest infectious disease killer, besides HIV/AIDS and other health emergencies.
Trump’s order said the administration would cease negotiations on the WHO pandemic treaty while the withdrawal is in progress.
What Happens To U.S. Government Personnel Working With WHO?
U.S. government personnel working with the WHO will be recalled and reassigned.
The government will look for partners to take over necessary WHO activities, according to the order.
The government will review, rescind, and replace the 2024 U.S. Global Health Security Strategy as soon as practicable, the order says.
The next-largest donors to the WHO are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, although most of that funding goes to polio eradication, and the global vaccine group Gavi, followed by the European Commission and the World Bank.
The next-largest national donor is Germany, which contributes around three per cent of the WHO’s funding.
Exit On Expected Lines
Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO is not unexpected.
In 2020, during his first term as President, he took steps to quit the body.
Before the U.S. withdrawal could be completed last time, Joe Biden won the country’s presidential election and put a stop to it on his first day in office on January 20, 2021.
At that time, he had accused the WHO of aiding China’s efforts to “mislead the world” about the origins of COVID.
WHO vigorously denies the allegation and says it continues to press Beijing to share data to determine whether COVID emerged from human contact with infected animals or due to research into similar viruses in a domestic laboratory.
Suspension Of U.S. Contributions
Trump had also suspended U.S. contributions to the agency, costing it nearly $200 million in 2020-2021 versus the previous two-year budgets, as it battled the world’s worst health emergency in a century.
(With inputs from Reuters)
