President Trump signed a executive order begin the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization. It was in between dozens of executive actions he signed after being sworn in on Monday for a second term, on issues ranging from immigration to foreign policy to climate change.
It was the second time in less than five years that he ordered the country to withdraw from the organization, despite it being a move that many scientists fear could undo decades of gains made in fighting infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Experts also warn that the move could weaken the world’s defenses against new dangerous outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.
The WHO has been under intense criticism from Mr. Trump in 2020 for his answer to the COVID 19 pandemic, which became a global health crisis during the last year of his first term.
A White House statement said the United States was withdrawing “due to the organization’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in 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.”
He also accused the WHO of demanding “unjustly onerous payments from the United States, greatly disproportionate to payments assessed by other countries.”
The order said that Mr. Trump sent a presidential letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations to formally notify the United States of the plan to withdraw.
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2025-01-21 05:18:00
