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Donald Trump’s transition team is pushing for the US to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his new administration, experts say, saying it would have a “devastating” impact on global health. It warns that it will give.
Members of Trump’s team have told experts that they intend to announce their withdrawal from the World Health Organization on the next president’s inauguration on January 20th. A withdrawal would deprive the WHO of its biggest source of funding and damage its ability to respond to public health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.
“The United States will leave a huge void in global health financing and leadership,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown Law School. He added that plans to withdraw on “Day 1” would be “catastrophic” for global health.
The dispute over the relationship between the United States and the WHO began after President Trump nominated several allies, including vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, to top health posts in the incoming administration. But Gostin said he didn’t know whether President Trump would place the same emphasis on an immediate withdrawal as some on his team do.
The United States is the largest single contributor to the WHO, providing about 16% of funding in 2022-23.
In 2020, in response to the spread of the new coronavirus, President Trump accused the WHO of being under Chinese control and began the process of withdrawing from the organization. But the process was never completed, and his successor, Joe Biden, resumed ties with the agency on his first day in office in 2021.
After starting the process immediately, some in the Trump campaign want to move even faster this time around, experts said.
Ashish Jha, Biden’s former White House coronavirus response coordinator and dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, said the transition team was “symbolically” reversing Biden’s own Inauguration Day move, saying President Trump He said he hoped to withdraw on the first day.
“There are a lot of people who will be joining the regime’s inner circle who don’t trust the WHO and want to show symbolically on day one that they’re out,” he said. spoke.
He added that some on the team wanted to stay with the organization and push for reforms, but another group that believed in severing ties won the discussion.
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Jha said institutions such as the WHO will be key to global cooperation on vaccine development and distribution, as well as other treatments in health emergencies.
“If you’re not working in these agencies, you won’t know what the situation is on the ground when the next outbreak occurs,” he warned.
“It’s going to be a very difficult year for the WHO as it struggles to respond to health emergencies and has had to make significant cuts to its scientific staff,” Gostin said.
He warned that if the US leaves the WHO, European countries are unlikely to step up funding and China may seek to exert further influence. “Withdrawal is not a wise move because it would mean ceding leadership to China,” he said.
Trump’s transition team did not comment directly on the possibility of withdrawal. A person familiar with the plan told the Financial Times: We don’t seem to care much what they say. ”
WHO did not comment. The agency’s executive director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this month that the agency is a “unique organization” that wants to partner with U.S. policymakers.
“For our part, we are ready to cooperate,” he said. “I think our leaders understand that the United States cannot be safe unless the rest of the world is safe.”
