Washington [US], December 24: Members of US President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are preparing a plan for Washington to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 20, 2025.
"I have reliable information that he plans to withdraw from WHO , possibly on day one or early in his term," Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown Law School, told the Financial Times .
Mr. Trump's side has not commented on the above information.
According to Reuters, the above scenario is consistent with Mr. Trump's long-standing criticism of the United Nations health agency and would mark a dramatic change in US global health policy.
The Financial Times quoted Mr. Ashish Jha, former White House Covid-19 response coordinator , saying that President-elect Trump's team wanted the US to withdraw from WHO on the first day of Mr. Trump's office, considering it a symbol of reversing the move that his predecessor Joe Biden made on his previous inauguration day.
On January 20, 2021, US President Joe Biden restored relations between the US and the WHO after Mr. Trump initiated the process of withdrawing from the organization because of criticism of the WHO's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, Mr. Trump criticized the WHO as being "controlled" by China and announced the redirection of US contributions to other health initiatives.
Currently, the US is the WHO's largest donor, contributing about 16% of its budget in 2022-2023. The US withdrawal could deprive the organization of important resources to respond to public health crises.
"The US will leave a huge gap in global finance and health. I don't see any country that can fill that gap. I can't imagine a world without a strong WHO. But the US withdrawal will seriously weaken the agency," said Professor Gostin.
Asked about concerns if the Trump administration were to withdraw from the organization, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently said they needed to give the United States time and space to transition. Mr. Ghebreyesus also expressed confidence that countries could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper