US completes withdrawal from World Health Organisation
The US has finalised its withdrawal from the World Health Organisation, one year after President Donald Trump announced America was ending its 78-year-old commitment, federal officials said Thursday. But it’s hardly a clean break. The US owes more than $130 million to the global health agency, according to WHO.
And Trump administration officials acknowledge that they haven’t finished working out some issues, such as lost access to data from other countries that could give America an early warning of a new pandemic.
The withdrawal will hurt the global response to new outbreaks and will hobble the ability of US scientists and pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines and medicines against new threats, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University. “In my opinion, it’s the most ruinous presidential decision in my lifetime,” he said.
WHO is the United Nations’ specialised health agency and is mandated to coordinate responses to global health threats, such as outbreaks of mpox, Ebola, and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poorer countries; helps distribute scarce vaccines, supplies and treatments; and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.
US officials helped lead the WHO’s creation, and America has long been among the organisation’s biggest donors, providing hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of staffers with specialised public health expertise. On average, the US pays $111 million a year in member dues to the WHO and roughly $570 million more in annual voluntary contributions, according to the US Department of Health. In an executive order issued right after taking office, Trump said the US was withdrawing from the WHO due to the organisation’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises.
