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The United States of America has officially quit the World Health Organisation (WHO) stating that the decision was taken due to failures in the UN health agency’s poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. US President Donald Trump, through an executive order, issued a notice to the WHO that the US would withdraw from the organization on the first day of his presidency in 2025.
Despite WHO’s warnings since the last one year that quitting the WHO would have an adverse impact on the public health in the country, the US Health and State Departments remained firm and said that the US will work with the WHO in a limited fashion, as part of its withdrawal.
A senior official from the department concerned said that they do not have plans of rejoining and that the US would remain as an observer. The US will work directly with other countries than through an international organization on public health and prevention of diseases.
On Thursday, the US flag had been removed from outside the WHO headquarters in Geneva. The WHO said the US has not yet paid the fee it owes for 2024 and 2025. Under the US law, it was supposed to give one-year notice and also pay all outstanding fee, nearly US $260 million, before quitting the organization. However, the US just served the notice but did not pay the outstanding fee.
Speaking over the non-payment of the outstanding fee, a US State Department official said that the statute contains a condition that any payment needs to be done before the withdrawal. In an email to the WHO, a State Department spokesperson said that the American people have paid more than enough.
According to a document released by the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday, the US government had ended its funding to the agency. Trump had exercised his authority and paused the transfer of funds to the WHO because the organization had cost the US trillions of dollars.
It is learnt that the US has proposed to exit many other United Nations organisations, and there are apprehensions that Trump’s Board of Peace could weaken the UN itself. Several health experts have urged a rethink. Bill Gates, Chair of Gates Foundation, a big contributor of WHO, said he would advocate for the US to rejoin.
The US withdrawal from the WHO sparked a financial crisis leading to cutting down the management team to half and reduce the work. The US has been contributing around 18% of its overall funding. By the middle of the year, the WHO is likely to cut down a quarter of its staff.
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