Trump wants to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization again. Here’s what could happen next

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used one of several executive actions he issued on his first day back at the White House to begin the process of withdraw the United States. of the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years – a decision that many scientists fear could set back decades of progress in the fight against infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Experts also warned that withdrawing the organization could weaken global defenses against dangerous new outbreaks that could trigger pandemics.

Here’s a look at what Trump’s decision means:

What happened?

In the first Oval Office appearance of his second term, Trump signed an executive order detailing how the withdrawal process could begin.

“Ooh,” Trump exclaimed as he was handed the action to sign. “It’s a big deal!”

Its decision calls for suspending the future transfer of funds from the U.S. government to the organization, recalling and reassigning federal staff and contractors working with the WHO, and calls on officials to “identify credible U.S. and international partners and transparent to carry out necessary activities previously undertaken by » the organization.

This is not the first time Trump has attempted to cut ties with the WHO. In July 2020several months after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and as cases increased around the world, the Trump administration formally informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the United States planned to withdraw from the WHO, thereby suspending funding to the agency .

President Joe Biden overturned Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021 – for Trump to essentially revive it on his first day back in the White House.

Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of the advocacy group Resolve to Save Lives, said Trump’s decision “makes Americans — and the world — less safe.”

“Withdrawing from the WHO not only cuts crucial funding for the agency, but it also strips us of our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting health security worldwide,” Frieden said in a statement. “Real reform requires commitment, not abandonment. We cannot make WHO more effective by distancing ourselves from it. This decision weakens American influence and increases the risk of a deadly pandemic.”

What is WHO and does it really matter?

It is the UN’s specialized agency for health and has the mandate to coordinate the global response to global health threats, including epidemics of mpox, Ebola And polio. It also provides technical assistance to the poorest countries, helps distribute scarce vaccines, provides supplies and treatments and establishes guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.

“A U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would make the world far less healthy and less secure,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He said in an email that the loss of U.S. resources would devastate WHO’s global surveillance and outbreak response efforts.

“This would make it more likely that new diseases would spiral out of control, cross borders and potentially trigger a pandemic,” he said.

Can Trump really pull the US out of the WHO?

Yes, provided it obtains congressional approval and the United States meets its financial obligations to the WHO for the current fiscal year. The United States joined the WHO through a joint resolution passed in 1948 by both houses of Congress, which was subsequently supported by all administrations. The resolution requires the United States to provide one year’s notice if it decides to leave the WHO.

What does this mean for WHO?

This is extremely bad. The United States has historically been one of the WHO’s largest donors, providing the UN health agency not only with hundreds of millions of dollars, but also with hundreds of staff with specialized health expertise. public.

Over the past decade, the United States has paid the WHO between $160 million and $815 million annually. The WHO’s annual budget is approximately $2 billion to $3 billion. The loss of U.S. funding could cripple many global health initiatives, including efforts to eradicate polio, maternal and child health programs, and research to identify new viral threats.

Many U.S. agencies that work with the WHO would also suffer, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Leaving the WHO would exclude the United States from WHO-coordinated initiatives, such as determining the annual makeup of flu vaccines and missions to countries experiencing dangerous outbreaks. U.S. scientists would also lose early access to critical genetic databases managed by the WHO, which could block attempts to produce vaccines and drugs.

Why is Trump withdrawing the United States from the WHO?

At a campaign rally in September, Trump said he would “tackle corruption” at the WHO and other public health institutions that he said were “dominated” by corporate power and China. Trump also said the United States contributes far more to the WHO than China and complained that China “completely controls” the U.N. health agency. “And now they want to give them control of our entire country, which would be a terrible mistake,” he said.

The WHO generally gives advice to its member countries on how to handle health crises, but the agency has no authority to compel countries to act.

In 2020, Trump claimed that the WHO “colluded” with China to hide the extent of the spread of the coronavirus early in the pandemic. A AP investigation in June 2020, China was found to have concealed crucial details about the virus shortly after its outbreak, frustrating WHO’s efforts to assess its danger potential and stop its spread.

What did the WHO say?

“We really believe in cooperation… and from our side, we are ready to work together,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in December. Tedros said the relationship between the WHO and the United States “is actually a good model of partnership,” saying he believes American leaders understand that the United States cannot be immune to threats sanitary conditions only if the whole world was safe.

He noted that when Ebola struck a war-torn region of Congo in 2018, no U.S. first responders were involved. “It was the WHO and its partners who helped the (Congolese) government (…) to contain this epidemic.”

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Cheng reported from London.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.