Trump Threatens to Withdraw United States from World Health Organization

On May 18 at 10:55 p.m., Donald Trump tweeted a letter addressed to WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in which the President accused the organization of unwarranted deference to China. The four-page letter included a litany of bulleted reasons for the threatened departure. The reasons were presented as findings from a White House–led investigation into the WHO response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Trump cited the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, to underscore his accusation that the WHO ignored early warning signs of the burgeoning catastrophe in China. “This statement is factually incorrect,” responded the Lancet in a subsequent statement.

The remainder of the bulleted points in the President’s letter mostly buttress a narrative of WHO support for a pattern of withholding data and opacity pertaining to the spread of the novel coronavirus by the Chinese government. Trump also accuses the WHO of being slow to declare a pandemic, and of tolerance for China’s discrimination of African foreign nationals during its efforts to halt the spread of the virus.

The letter closed by demanding “major substantive improvements within the next 30 days,” lest the United States permanently halt its financial support and “reconsider” US membership in the WHO.
Trump’s letter was presaged earlier on Monday by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who chastised the organization for its pandemic response and called for further investigation in a video addressed to the decision-making body of the WHO.

Lev Facher of Stat News pointed out that Trump has shifted his tone considerably since the early days of the pandemic, writing that “before he began to sharply criticize the country’s response and that of the WHO, Trump himself repeatedly praised China throughout January and February, telling Fox News in a Feb. 13 interview that Chinese president Xi Jinping had handled the crisis ‘very professionally.’”

Sources:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1262577580718395393/photo/1
https://www.statnews.com/2020/05/18/azar-who-failure/
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/19/trump-who-letter-error-267995

Katie Pincura, DrPh, MPH, MA

Katie Pincura, DrPH, MA, MPH is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Western Carolina University, College of Health and Human Sciences, School of Health Sciences. Dr. Pincura is a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Her research focuses on the intersection of healthcare policy and public health.

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