World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo courtesy U.S. Mission Geneva/ Eric Bridiers.
The World Health Organization (WHO), the leading global health agency, declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, and within weeks the world had seen more than half a million people infected and nearly 30,000 dead. Infections in the U.S. continue to rise.
Yet President Trump has formally notified the United Nations that the U.S. will withdraw from the WHO, bringing its U.S. funding to a halt. The U.S. is, by far, the largest contributor to the WHO’s budget.
Trump had initially demanded some changes after accusing the WHO of being both China-centric and slow in its coronavirus response — somewhat validly. However, he didn’t get the response he wanted, so he announced a formal withdrawal to take effect in one year.
Not many seem to agree with him that this is a good move at this particular time.
“I disagree with the president’s decision. … Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines,” said Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States.”
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, said via Twitter, “Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”
On the other hand, Rep. James Comer (KY), the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, called the withdrawal “the right decision. China lied, the WHO complied, and Americans died… Until the WHO undergoes some serious reforms, it doesn’t deserve our money or our membership.”
Even so, it makes little sense to pull our support and funding from the one organization that coordinates the worldwide pandemic response. Especially now.
Trump certainly has his reasons. Here are a couple of possible explanations:
“Defunding the WHO (or at least threatening to do so) is yet another instance of Trump’s signature move,” wrote Graeme Wood in The Atlantic. He explained that when Trump feels trapped, he does something outrageous to distract from the issue of the moment — in this case, the coronavirus pandemic.
Luke Allen, global health policy researcher at University of Oxford, offered another view. “In the longer term, withdrawing from multilateral partnerships [such as Trans-Pacific Partnership, Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Deal], aligns with Trump’s zero-sum worldview.”
The WHO is a vital international agency, and part of the United Nations. It has eradicated smallpox; nearly eradicated polio; fights other vaccine-preventable diseases, like malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS, Ebola; and provides basic health care. It teams up with other UN agencies to feed the hungry, improve maternal health, and ensure clean water and safe food supplies. The WHO does all of this on a budget that is about the size of a U.S. medical center’s.
While some of Trump’s criticisms of the WHO are valid, it is irrational to defund and withdraw from it now. Doing so puts global health security and our national security at risk, damages our relationships with our allies, and limits our influence for good.
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