The United States is set to formally leave the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, amid warnings that doing so would have a negative impact on both American and global health, and in violation of a US law that requires Washington to pay $260 million in dues to the UN health agency.
President Donald Trump has announced that the US will leave the organization on the first day of his term in 2025. Under US law, the country must give one year’s notice and pay all back taxes before leaving.
Over the past year, many global health experts have called for a reconsideration of the decision, including most recently WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
– I hope the US will reconsider and return to the WHO – he told reporters at a press conference earlier this month.
– Withdrawal from the WHO is a loss for the United States of America and a loss for the rest of the world – he emphasized.
The WHO also said the US still hasn’t paid the taxes it owes for 2024 and 2025. Member states should discuss the US withdrawal and how to implement it at the WHO’s executive board in February, a WHO spokesman told Reuters by email. The US secretary of state did not respond to questions about whether the US could leave the organization without paying its debts or what leaving could mean for global cooperation.
– This is a clear violation of American law – said Lawrence Gostin, founder of the O’Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington, a longtime WHO observer. “But it’s very likely that Trump will get away with it.”
Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Bill Gates – chairman of the Gates Foundation, one of the main funders of global health initiatives and part of the work of the WHO – said he did not expect the US to reverse its decision anytime soon.
– I don’t believe that the US will return to the WHO anytime soon – he said, adding that he will try to lobby when he has the opportunity. “The World Needs the World Health Organization.”
For the WHO, the US departure caused a budget crisis that saw the management team cut in half and budget cuts across the agency. Washington has traditionally been the largest funder of the UN health agency, contributing about 18 percent of total funding. The WHO will also cut about a quarter of its staff by the middle of this year. The agency said that it worked with the US last year and shared information, but it is not clear how the cooperation will work in the future.
Global health experts point out that this poses a risk to the US, the WHO and the entire world.
– The withdrawal of the US from the WHO could weaken the systems and cooperation that the world relies on to detect, prevent and respond to health threats – said Kelly Henning, head of the public health program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, an American non-profit organization.
(Vijesti.ba)
