President Donald Trump has announced he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation, in a significant move that drew criticism from public health experts on his first day back in the White House.
Trump has long been critical of the United Nations’ health agency, and his administration formally began a withdrawal from the WHO in July 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to spread.
But four years ago, then-President Joe Biden halted the US’ exit from the body tasked with coordinating the international response to health emergencies in one of his first actions after taking over the White House.
The text of Monday’s executive order cites the “organisation’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” as reasons for the US withdrawal.
While lawmakers from both parties had criticized the WHO in 2020 when Trump first decided to pull out, many denounced the president’s decision to withdraw during a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time called it “an act of true senselessness.” And since-retired Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander — then-chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said he disagreed with Trump’s decision.
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.”
He predicted that China will step up for the organisation in the absence of US funding and leadership, which could, in turn, “give China more political influence around the world.”
Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University, said in a post on X that Trump’s pulling out of the WHO is “the most momentous of all” of Trump’s executive actions Monday.
Jha warned that withdrawing from the WHO weakens its because it relies heavily on US staff and expertise, particularly in tracking global influenza.
Trump’s executive action calls on the secretary of state and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “pause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, support, or resources” for the WHO. However, it takes a year to fully withdraw from the body, and there is an obligation for the US to continue funding it for a year.
Gostin, who is also the O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, said in a later post that the action is “riddled with legal & factual errors.”
