“Epidemiologists and public interest groups were among the critics condemning the White House's announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. is formally withdrawing from the World Health Organization, five weeks after threatening to do so.
“The
move was announced to WHO on Monday and comes as more than 539,000 people around
the world have died of the coronavirus, including more than 130,000 in the U.S., where the
number of Covid-19 cases has been climbing for weeks.
“Countries
are officially required to give
WHO one year's notice before formally leaving the organization, which counts
the U.S. as its largest funder. The U.S. contributed $426 million per year in
recent years and currently owes WHO more than $200 million in dues for 2020.
“As the world battles Covid-19—as well as other ongoing public health threats—Trump's decision is likely to have far-reaching and potentially deadly implications, wrote Helen Branswell at Stat News:
“‘The move plunges global health governance into the
unknown, creating questions about the economic viability of the WHO, the future
of the polio eradication program, the system for reporting dangerous infectious
disease outbreaks, and myriad other programs that are as pertinent to
the health of Americans as they are to people from countries around the world,
such as efforts to combat the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.’
“Trump
has blamed WHO for not taking control of the pandemic after China first
publicized a cluster of Covid-19 cases in Wuhan in late
December 2019. As WHO communicated with world leaders in January
about how to prepare for the pandemic, however, the Trump administration was dismissing
the warnings of public health experts in the United States and
downplaying the need to strengthen its medical supply chain [for 10 weeks].
“Trump
also severely hampered the United States' ability to observe the early days of
the pandemic in China when he cut
staff by more than two-thirds at the CDC's offices in Beijing
before the pandemic.
“Government
watchdog Public Citizen called the president's decision on Tuesday ‘a shameful
moment,’ and warned that the U.S. and the world will now be even less able to
effectively confront the pandemic.
“U.S. diplomat Jimmy Kolker told Stat News that the U.S. will ‘inevitably’ rejoin WHO in the future, but that its hasty exit in the middle of the global health crisis will make partnering with other countries difficult in the long-term.
“‘There
will be no incentive to take U.S. needs into account,’ Kolker told the
outlet. ‘It will be much harder than some might assume to find alternate
channels for us to engage in global health activities. Our
investment will no longer leverage others' and experts in other countries will
have to diversify their partnerships away from the CDC, the NIH, or USAID,
as these may not be sustainable. Once deals are struck and arrangements made
without U.S. involvement, it will be an uphill struggle to retrofit them if the
U.S. has an interest in getting involved.’
“Lawmakers
from both sides of the aisle were distressed at the news; Sen. Lamar Alexander
(R-Tenn.) noted that
withdrawing from WHO could ‘interfere with clinical trials that are essential
to the development of vaccines’ for Covid-19. ‘To call Trump's response to
COVID chaotic and incoherent doesn't do it justice,’ tweeted Sen.
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). ‘This won't protect American lives or interests—it
leaves Americans sick and America alone’” (Julia Conley, Common Dreams).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.