President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday stating the commencement of the process of pulling the U.S out of the World Health Organisation.
The U.S has historically been the largest funder of the global health agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland but Trump accuses the body of mishandling the COVID 19 pandemic.
In 2020, towards the end of his first term in office, Trump had first kick-started the process of withdrawing from the WHO but the succeeding Biden administration did not continue with the move.
Already, Trump’s order for the U.S. to exit the WHO is already being greeted with criticisms.
In a statement, Access to Medicines Director for Public Citizen, says the action means Trump is harming Americans as well as the rest of the world.
“In withdrawing from the WHO, Trump is harming not just the rest of the world but every American. Pulling out of the organization best able to mobilize countries to do their part fighting deadly viruses that kill Americans and don’t care about borders is not putting America first. It’s putting Americans at risk.
“As terrible as COVID was, it could have been much worse. U.S. cooperation with WHO and its partners to identify threats and deploy countermeasures saved millions of lives, including American lives. Many more American lives could have been saved through faster action to fight COVID variants everywhere.
“Global health cooperation will only become more important in the years to come, as new diseases arise and spread thanks to the impact of worsening climate change.
“This still is one world, like it or not, and viruses don’t discriminate,” the statement says.
