United States formally withdraws from WHO

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has formally started the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organisation, after threatening to stop funding to the UN body over its response to the coronavirus crisis.

Public health advocates and Trump’s political opponents voiced outrage at the departure from the global health body, which leads the global fight on maladies from polio, measles and mental health as well as COVID-19, at a time when cases have again been rising around the world.

After threatening to suspend the $400 million in annual US contributions and then announcing a withdrawal, the Trump administration has formally sent a notice to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a State Department spokesperson said.

The withdrawal of the key WHO founding member is effective in one year – July 6, 2021. Joe Biden, Trump’s presidential opponent in November elections vowed he would immediately end the pullout if he won the White House.

“Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage,” Biden wrote on Twitter.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to the news with a one-word tweet — “Together!” — as he linked to a discussion by US health experts on how leaving the global body could impede efforts to prevent future pandemics.

In line with conditions set when the WHO was set up in 1948, the United States can leave within one year but must meet its remaining assessed financial obligations, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

In May, Trump said that China exerted “total control” over the WHO and accused the UN body led by Tedros, an Ethiopian doctor and diplomat, of failing to implement reforms.

Trump blamed China for the coronavirus and said the United States would redirect funding “to other worldwide and deserving, urgent, global public health needs.”

The Trump administration has said that the WHO ignored early signs of human-to-human transmission in China, including warnings from Taiwan which is not part of the UN body.