Trump team wants to announce US withdrawal from WHO at inauguration – Financial Times

Experts believe that the US withdrawal will deprive the organization of its largest source of funding.

President-elect Donald Trump’s team wants to announce the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) at the president’s inauguration on January 20. Experts see this as a threat to the organization and the healthcare sector itself, the Financial Times reports .

According to the publication, members of Trump’s team informed experts about their decision, who said that the US withdrawal from the WHO would deprive the organization of its largest source of funding and harm its ability to respond to health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.

“America is going to leave a huge vacuum in global health funding and leadership. I don’t see anyone who can fill that gap,” noted Georgetown Law professor of global health Lawrence Gostin.

The United States is reportedly the largest donor to the WHO, providing about 16 percent of the organization’s funding in 2022-2023.

The publication recalls that in 2020, Trump initiated the withdrawal from the WHO due to the spread of COVID-19: he accused the organization of being under the control of China. But the process was never completed, and the next president, Joe Biden, restored relations with the WHO on his first day in office.

Experts have reported that some members of Trump’s team intend to immediately begin the process of withdrawing from the organization this time. Ashish Jha, Biden’s former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said that Trump’s team wants him to announce the severance of relations with the WHO on the first day, just as Biden announced the restoration of these relations at the time.

However, bodies like the WHO are key to global collaboration on the development and distribution of vaccines, as well as other treatments, during health emergencies, Jha said.

Professor Gostin warned that the WHO would face “very lean years, where it would struggle to respond to health emergencies and would have to significantly reduce its scientific staff.” He also said that if the US left the WHO, European countries would be unlikely to increase funding, while China could try to exert more influence.

The WHO has not yet commented on the report. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this month that it is a “unique organization” that looks forward to a partnership with U.S. policymakers. He said he hopes U.S. leaders understand this and that “the United States cannot be safe unless the rest of the world is safe.”

(C)UNIAN 2024