President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, in a significant move that drew criticism from public health experts on his first day back in the White House. <\/p>\n
Trump has long been critical of the United Nations\u2019 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\u2019 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. <\/p>\n
The text of Monday\u2019s executive order cites the \u201corganization\u2019s 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,\u201d as reasons for the US withdrawal. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big one,\u201d Trump told an aide as he began to sign the executive order, pointing to his 2020 decision and his belief that the US was paying too much money to the organization compared to other countries. In 2020, Trump also consistently accused the organization of aiding China in allegedly covering up the origins of Covid-19 and allowing its spread. <\/p>\n
While lawmakers from both parties had criticized the WHO in 2020 when Trump first decided to pull out, many denounced the president\u2019s decision to withdraw during a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time called it \u201can act of true senselessness.\u201d And since-retired Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander \u2014 then-chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee \u2014 said he disagreed with Trump\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as White House Covid-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration, called Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the WHO in his second term a \u201cstrategic error.\u201d <\/p>\n
He predicted that China will step up for the organization in the absence of US funding and leadership, which could, in turn, \u201cgive China more political influence around the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University, said in a post on X that Trump\u2019s pulling out of the WHO is \u201cthe most momentous of all\u201d of Trump\u2019s executive actions Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cataclysmic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a grievous wound to world health, but a still deeper wound to the US,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Jha warned that withdrawing from the WHO weakens the organization because it relies heavily on US staff and expertise, particularly in tracking global influenza. <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s executive action calls on the secretary of state and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to \u201cpause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, support, or resources\u201d 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut who\u2019s going to enforce the obligation? Is Donald Trump going to be cowed by global norms around these things?\u201d Jha asked. <\/p>\n
Gostin, who is also the O\u2019Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, said in a later post that the action is \u201criddled with legal & factual errors.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump isn\u2019t waiting a year as Congress required. He\u2019s unraveling US engagement & funding now. That\u2019s unlawful & a grave strategic error,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, 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\u2019 health agency, and his administration formally began a withdrawal from the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":495,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}