By Miriam Raftery
January 21, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – Among the dozens of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump yesterday after his inauguration is a notice to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). Under a 1948 law, withdrawal requires one-year notification and Congressional approval, Associated Press (AP) reports.
If completed, withdrawal by the U.S., a founding partner of WHO, would drop one-fifth of WHO’s funding and prevent the U.S. and the American medical community from accessing vital health resources and data.
Trump previously tried to withdraw from WHO in 2019, but President Biden rejoined the organization after his election before the waiting period ended. In July 2020, amid the pandemic, a joint statement by the American Medical Association and three other medical organizations representing pediatricians, family physicians and other doctors strongly opposed Trump’s withdrawal order, calling it “dangerous.”
The medical groups’ letter stated that withdrawal would put ”the health of our country at grave risk. As leading medical organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of physicians, we join in strong opposition to this decision, which is a major setback to science, public health, and global coordination efforts needed to defeat COVID-19. The WHO plays a leading role in protecting, supporting, and promoting public health in the United States and around the world. The agency has been on the frontlines of every global child health challenge over the last seven decades, successfully eradicating smallpox, vaccinating billions against measles, and cutting preventable child deaths by more than half since 1990. Withdrawing from the WHO puts these investments at risk and leaves the United States without a seat at the table—at a time when our leadership is most desperately needed.”
Yesterday’s executive order claims WHO mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for unspecified reforms cites political influence of member states, and cites “onerous” payments by the U.S. that are higher than China’s sharem even though China has a larger population. Trump has previously faulted WHO for changing advisories such as for masking and social distancing as more information became available about the new COVID-19 virus.
WHO issued a statement saying it “regrets” Trump’s withdrawal from the global health authority and voiced hope that the U.S. will reconsider “for the wellbeing of millions of people around the globe.”
““The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board,” WHO stated.
The statement continues, “For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats,” it added. “Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership of WHO.”
“WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go, the statement continued,” adding, “With the participation of the United States and other Member States, WHO has over the past 7 years implemented the largest set of reforms in its history, to transform our accountability, cost-effectiveness, and impact in countries. This work continues.
According to the AP, withdrawing from WHO could prevent the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and other health agencies from accessing information on WHO-coordinated programs ranging from flu vaccine development to genetic databases.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as White House Covid-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration, called Trump’s decision to withdraw from the WHO in his second term a “strategic error.”
“WHO is a pretty essential organization — and with America’s withdrawal, it creates a political vacuum that only one country can fill — and that is China,” Jha said in an interview with CNN on Monday.
He predicted that China will step up for the organization in the absence of US funding and leadership, which could, in turn, “give China more political influence around the world.”