The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization, breaking off ties with the global health body amidst the raging coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump said he was halting funding to the organisation in mid-April and announced his intention to withdraw from the WHO in May after he said it “failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms.”
The US has also accused the WHO of siding with China on the outbreak of the virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, alleging the health body misled the world resulting in deaths of over half a million people globally, including over 130,000 in America alone.
“China has total control over the World Health Organization,” President Trump said in May. He has also alleged that the Chinese government tried to cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic's origins. In April, the US stopped funding to WHO as the Trump administration reviewed the ties. A month later, President Donald Trump announced the US was terminating the relationship.
The US is the single largest contributor to the WHO, providing over USD 450 million per annum. China's contribution to the global health body is about USD 40 million, one-tenth of that of the US.
“I can say that on 6 July 2020, the United States of America notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as depositary of the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization, of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, effective on 6 July 2021,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, in a statement.
Dujarric said the secretary-general is in the process of verifying with the WHO whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met.
Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tweeted that Congress has received notification that President Trump has officially withdrew the US from the WHO. The US has been a party to the WHO Constitution since June 21, 1948.
Its participation was accepted by the World Health Assembly with certain conditions set out by the US for its eventual withdrawal from this world body.
The said conditions include giving a one-year notice, meaning the withdrawal won't go into effect until July 6 next year, raising the possibility the Trump administration's decision could be reversed by a new government after the presidential elections in November this year.
Joe Biden, who will challenge Trump in the November 3 presidential election, tweeted: “On my first day as President, I will rejoin the WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage.”
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move to withdraw from the WHO as “an act of true senselessness.”
The Trump administration's decision was criticised by several Congressmen, who said it “would be a bad policy.”