“Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication,” the United Nations agency said Tuesday. “WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans.”
Trump’s executive order, among a flurry signed Monday in the Oval Office, leaves the WHO with one year to find alternative funding. Traditional donors like Germany and France probably won’t be able to increase their contributions given their financial situations, according to Anders Nordström, a former acting director-general at the agency.
Nordström expects others from Asia and the Middle East to step up and thereby increase their influence on global health. China was quick to express support on Tuesday, with the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson saying that the WHO’s role “should only be strengthened, not weakened.”
The European Union also urged the US to reconsider and called on members to reinforce their commitments.
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Based in Geneva, the WHO plays a key role in battling global health threats. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is currently in Tanzania to help coordinate a response to the outbreak of Marburg virus, a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.
The WHO has been in Trump’s sights for some time. Toward the end of his first term, he tried to pull the US out of the international health body, saying that it deferred too much to the Chinese government in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak and didn’t act quickly enough to contain the disease. The move at the time was widely criticised by both health advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who called it a political maneuver aimed at shifting blame for the administration’s disastrous response to the pandemic.
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“World Health ripped us off,” Trump said Monday. “Everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore.”
The WHO’s program budget for 2022-2023 was US$6.7 billion. The largest chunks of income are spent on contractors and staff, with emergency operations receiving the most money in terms of strategic operations.
The first impact of the withdrawal will be on the staff seconded to the WHO from US agencies, who will need to return home immediately, said Nina Schwalbe, CEO of advisory firm Spark Street Advisors.
There could also be a financial hit earlier than expected, given that the US pays the WHO in arrears, and Trump’s executive order pauses any further funds to the organisation, according to Schwalbe. That could mean “immediate shortfalls,” she said.
The WHO has long faced financial challenges as the vast majority given by donors comes through voluntary contributions, which can be allocated to specific programs. Countries agreed in 2022 to gradually increase contributions. The US’s departure might speed up these efforts to reshape the WHO’s financing.
It could also force the WHO into more of a normative role, setting global standards and developing guidelines, according to David Heymann, former WHO assistant director for health security.
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The Gates Foundation, another top WHO donor, reiterated its commitment and said the agency “plays a vital role in combating health threats that impact everyone, including Americans.”
There might be criticisms of the WHO including complaints over the bureaucracy surrounding decisions that could lead to improvements at the organization, said Marion Koopmans, head of the Erasmus MC department of viroscience.
“But a downright pull-out really is turning your back to the rest of the world,” she said.
