https://apnews.com/article/trump-withdraws-from-world-health-organization-697bbd79a95ae0b6a5d47fa4131f6329
Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again.Here’s what may happen next
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear could roll back decades-long gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Experts have also cautioned that withdrawing from the organization could weaken the world’s defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.
Here’s a look at what Trump’s decision means:
What happened?
During the first Oval Office appearance of his second term, Trump signed an executive order detailing how the withdrawal process might begin.
“Ooh,” Trump exclaimed as he was handed the action to sign. “That’s a big one!”
His move calls for pausing the future transfer of U.S. government funds to the organization, recalling and reassigning federal personnel and contractors working with the WHO and calls on officials to “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by” the organization.
This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to sever ties with WHO. In July 2020, several months after WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic and as cases surged globally, Trump’s administration officially notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the U.S. was planning to pull out of WHO, suspending funding to the agency.
President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021 — only to have Trump essentially revive it on his first day back at the White House.
Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of the advocacy group Resolve to Save Lives, said Trump’s move “makes Americans — and the world — less safe.”
“Withdrawing from WHO not only cuts crucial funding from the agency, but it also surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security,” Frieden said in a statement. “Real reform requires engagement, not abandonment. We cannot make WHO more effective by walking away from it. This decision weakens America’s influence and increases the risk of a deadly pandemic.”