President Trump initiates the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), fulfilling a campaign promise amidst ongoing criticism of the organization's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its work on a pandemic treaty.
President Donald Trump has initiated the process for the US to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). Following his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order directing the US to exit the WHO, fulfilling a pre-election promise. This move wasn't unexpected. Trump had been criticizing the WHO since 2020, attacking its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and threatening to withhold US funding.
Although he didn't follow through on the funding threat after the 2020 election, the tension persisted. The WHO has become a target for conservatives due to its work on a “pandemic treaty” aiming to strengthen pandemic preparedness and establish legally binding policies for member countries. These policies encompass pathogen surveillance, rapid data sharing on outbreaks, and building local manufacturing and supply chains for vaccines and treatments. Talks on the treaty stalled last year, with some Republican lawmakers in the United States viewing it as a threat to American sovereignty. The withdrawal process will take one year, as stipulated when the US joined the WHO in 1948. If completed, the US would join Liechtenstein as the only UN member country not part of the WHO. The Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are tasked with taking appropriate measures to: pause future US government funding, support, and resources to the WHO; recall and reassign US government personnel or contractors working with the WHO; and identify credible US and international partners to assume the WHO's previous activities.Trump's strained relationship with the WHO began with its perceived mishandling of both the China and the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health experts, like Lawrence Gostin, a global health expert and faculty director of Georgetown University's O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, have voiced concerns about the withdrawal. Gostin believes it will isolate the US diplomatically and hinder its response to pandemics. However, the withdrawal announcement coincides with the ongoing Clade 1B monkeypox outbreak. The WHO declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) a global health emergency on August 14, 2024, due to the rapid spread of a new, more aggressive variant called clade Ib in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This strain, characterized by easier skin-to-skin transmission and more severe infections, has raised concerns about its potential to become a widespread health threat. Critics point to this outbreak as evidence of the WHO's inability to effectively protect global populations, advocating for a focus on domestic health concerns and resources.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITHDRAWAL PANDEMIC TREATY COVID-19 GLOBAL HEALTH
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