The logo of the World Health Organization.
The decision is a wake-up call for Canada to strengthen pandemic preparedness efforts, say experts. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week withdrawing the U.S. from the global health agency, a move that has worried public health experts around the world. This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings.
Trump is seen here signing the executive order on Monday, a decision that will take effect in a year. The U.S. had to provide a year's notice before withdrawing from the WHO. It's a fear shared widely by other public health and infectious disease experts, who worry the move could also set back progress in fighting diseases like polio and malaria.the move will hurt HIV/AIDS relief programs in the country and in other African nations, given that the withdrawal from the WHO could signal the U.S. might cut its foreign aid — something those programs rely upon. And400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border, the largest land border in the world.
The WHO works with its member states to detect, monitor and manage public health threats. It's a forum where countries share things like virus samples and gene sequences. By leaving the health agency, the U.S. may now have a blind spot, says Dr. Prabhat Jha, a professor of global health at the University of Toronto.
"If we don't know what's happening on the southern end of our bird-migration patterns, for example, it's a little harder to prepare here."But Jha does see a silver lining in all this. Pai shares that hope. He says Canada's already a global leader in reproductive health, mental health and human rights.
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