On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order removing the United States from the World Health Organization, steering the country away from participation with the specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for global public health.
This isn't the first fight Trump has picked with the WHO. His administration began the removal process in July 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Joe Biden halted the exit in one of his first actions when he started his presidential term in 2021. The executive order cited the WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” as a reason for the withdrawal.
The executive order also cited financial reasons for the directive.
“The WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,” the order stated. “China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.”
On Tuesday, the organization released a media statement in response to the executive order stating that it hopes the U.S. will “reconsider.”
“The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board,” the statement read. “For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats.”
Over these past seven decades, WHO said, the U.S. and the organization have been able to save “countless lives.”
“Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication,” the statement said. “American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership of WHO.”
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