Opinion: The long history of the U.S. trying to control and dismantle the WHO

Soon after his inauguration as 47^th president of the United States on Jan. 20, Donald Trump signed an executive order that withdrew the U.S. from membership in the World Health Organization. The order required the assistant to the president for national security affairs to bypass the WHO and establish “directorates and coordinating mechanisms within the National Security Council apparatus … to safeguard public health and fortify biosecurity”; directed the secretary of state and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “pause future transfer of any U.S. funds, support, or resources to WHO” and to “recall and reassign U.S. government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with WHO”; and specified that while the withdrawal was in progress, the “Secretary of State will cease negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations.”

Trump’s withdrawal drew immediate and widespread condemnation from political, diplomatic, medical, public health, and philanthropic leaders around the world.

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