What you need to know
- Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization when he becomes president on January 20.
- The US is the largest financial contributor to WHO, mostly through voluntary payments for its favored programmes.
- WHO’s funding model has been criticized for being overly dependent on such “strings attached” donations.
Donald Trump is set to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the first day of his presidency, but experts warn the move would be mutually damaging for both sides.
Trump, who will be inaugurated for a second and final term as US president on January 20, had also tried to withdraw from the WHO in July 2020 at the end of his first administration.
But completely severing ties with WHO could not happen overnight because of a long-standing Congressional resolution requiring the president to give one year’s notice and pay any outstanding obligations.
Because of that timeline, Trump’s order came just months after the election of Joe Biden to the presidency in 2020, which enabled Democrats to overturn the decision.
Trump’s possible move will not face any such obstacles this time.
America is the largest source of funding for WHO
If the US withdrew from WHO, it would be a major blow to the organization’s budget and ability to coordinate international health programs and policy.
WHO is a United Nations agency comprised of 196 member states, who pay into the organization through “assessed contributions” based on gross domestic product and population data on a two-year funding cycle – effectively a membership fee. .
The US contributes almost a quarter of these funds, ahead of China, Japan and Germany.
Nations can also make voluntary contributions, which the US does. In the current cycle, the US has already contributed about $1 billion to the WHO budget.
But about half of WHO’s funding comes from non-governmental organizations. For example, billions were donated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, making it the second largest contributor overall.
Donor-directed or “designated” contributions – where the donor decides how and where the funds are used – account for more than 70% of the total budget.
According to Gian Luca Bersi, a former WHO lawyer working as a global health law expert at the Geneva Graduate School, this presents a deep structural problem for WHO’s operations.
“Donors add a lot of conditions, so WHO becomes very much donor-driven,” Bursi told DW.
“So America gets a lot, in terms of returns, for relatively little money,”
“There are many issues that the United States attaches great importance to, no matter who sits in the White House, particularly on health emergencies, on pandemics, on disease outbreaks, but also on getting data on what’s happening inside countries. “
With the departure of its top financial contributor, WHO may have few options to fill the gap. Either other member states would need to increase its funding, or its operating budget would need to be scaled back.
America will also be harmed by leaving WHO
Relations between the WHO and Donald Trump began to deteriorate in 2020, when he accused the WHO of being a “puppet of China” during its response to COVID-19.
“He continues to speak out against China and say that WHO is in China’s pocket, that China influences it,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights at Georgetown. ” University, US
He said that leaving the WHO would be an “own goal” for the US and it would lose its “huge influence” in global health.
“I think it would be extremely counterproductive to U.S. national security interests. It would open the door to the Russian Federation, China and others,” Gostin told DW. “The same could be true with the BRICS: South Africa, India, Mexico. Is.”
Leaving WHO would increase health risks from disease spread
Withdrawal would also make the world a less healthy and safe place. Isolating itself from the global health community would put the United States at a protective disadvantage during the spread of the disease.
“There are many things the United States can do alone, but preventing new pathogens from crossing our borders is not one of them,” Gostin said.
Gostin points to existing concerns around H5N1 avian influenza currently in the US: “We are not getting access to the scientific information we need to be able to fight this because avian influenza is a globally disseminated pathogen”.
“WHO has an influenza center where it tracks all the variants around the world. [The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]is a very close partner and we use those data to develop vaccines and treatments. “We would be flying blind,” Gostin said.
Threat could force more change, and America will win
Trump’s withdrawal of the US from WHO would certainly alter the US-WHO relationship, but would not necessarily end it.
Bursey is open-minded about what the relationship could look like in the future. He suggests that the US could work like NGOs and charities by making voluntary contributions to ideologically supported programs.
,[They] may continue to fund some projects [and] activities so it is possible that WHO may not lose the entire US contribution,” Bursey said.
Trump also presents himself as a dealmaker president, so he could use the withdrawal as a stick to force US-backed reforms in Geneva.
The WHO’s performance in the modern world has long been criticized, and not just by the US. However, some Gostins say that some reforms have started in view of dealing with Covid-19.
While the WHO’s “change agenda” has also been in place for nearly eight years, Trump may be able to bring about stronger changes further.
Gostin would like Trump to incorporate his dealmaker rather than isolationist personality in his WHO dealings.
“He can send a letter to withdraw his name, or, he can reach an agreement with WHO to make it a better, more flexible, more accountable and transparent organization that works better for the United States, WHO, and the world.” It will be a profitable deal.” Gostin said.
Edited by: Fred Schwaler