Donald Trump orders the United States to leave the World Health Organization

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Oooh, that’s a big piece,” the newly inaugurated US president said as he approved the document after returning to the White House. It’s one of dozens of executive actions he signed on his first day in office.

This is the second time Mr. Trump has ordered the United States to withdraw from the WHO.

Mr Trump criticized the international organization’s handling of the Covid-19 flu and began the process of withdrawing from the Geneva-based institution over the pandemic. President Joe Biden later reversed this decision.

Implementing this executive action on day one increases the likelihood that the United States will officially leave the global agency.

“They wanted us to come back so bad, so we’ll see what happens,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office, referring to the WHO, perhaps hinting that the United States would eventually return.

The executive order states that the United States is withdrawing “due to the organization’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out in Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its inability to adopt urgently needed reforms and demonstrate independence from inappropriate political influence by WHO Member States.”

The executive order also said the withdrawal was the result of “unfairly onerous payments” made by the United States to the WHO, which is part of the United Nations.

When Mr. Trump was still in office the first time, he criticized the organization for being too “China-centric” in its fight against the 19-year-old bird flu pandemic.

Mr Trump accused the WHO of being biased towards China in the way it gave advice during the outbreak.

Under the Biden administration, the United States remained the WHO’s largest funder, and in 2023 it contributed nearly a fifth of the agency’s budget.

The organisation’s annual budget is $6.8 billion (£5.5 billion).

Funding may disappear almost immediately, and it is unclear whether other countries will pick up the slack.

A US withdrawal could impact the WHO’s ability to respond to emergencies such as an Ebola or MPOX outbreak, not to mention another Covid-19-like pandemic.

Public health experts have suggested there could be further consequences for Americans’ health if progress in combating infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS is reversed. .

Ashish Jha, who worked as coordinator of the Covid-19 response under Mr Biden’s presidency, has previously warned that leaving would “not only harm the health of people around the world, but also the leadership and prowess scientists of the United States.

“This is a cataclysmic presidential decision. The withdrawal is a serious wound for global health, but an even deeper wound for the United States,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health expert and professor at Georgetown University.

There are also fears that the US withdrawal could pave the way for greater Chinese influence over the world body.

The benefits of the decision are few, but some say it could lead to further reforms in the way the WHO operates, allowing it to better meet the public health needs of people around the world.

If so, that could be enough to entice the United States back into the organization’s fold. However, the tone of language coming from Washington suggests that this second attempt by President Trump to withdraw the United States from the international health body will not be reconsidered.