One of the first things Donald Trump, President of America did within minutes of his inauguration was to sign an executive order exiting the World Health Organisation (WHO), a decision the UN body called regrettable and hoped the US president would reconsider. This decision comes after months of criticism from Trump regarding the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US is the largest financial contributor to the WHO, and its withdrawal would have significant implications for global health efforts.
The US has been a part of the WHO since 1948, the year the organisation was founded and the exit would make the country the only major nation that’s not a member of the agency which has 194 on board. It may also impact—even indirectly—several public health initiatives in low- and middle-income countries like India.
“In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments. 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,” read the order.
The US is the largest funder of the UN health body and nearly a fifth of its annual funding in 2023-24 came from the country alone. Many ongoing vaccination & research projects could be paralysed due to the exit and may have the worst impact particularly on African & Indian health care ongoing programs.
