Donald Trump has carried out his threat to leave the WHO, which he accuses of having delayed reacting to the coronavirus pandemic, thus depriving it of 15% of his budget.
After the threats, the act. Donald Trump officially launched the procedure to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organisation (WHO) , carrying out his threats to leave the UN agency which he accuses of having delayed reacting to the pandemic of coronavirus .
Health officials and the President’s opponents have criticized his decision to withdraw the largest contributor from the Geneva-based organization responsible for the global fight against disease and the Covid-19 that continues to spread around the world.
And White House Democratic candidate Joe Biden has said he will overturn that decision if he is elected on Nov. 3.
“On the first day of my presidency, I will join WHO and reaffirm our global leadership,” he wrote on Twitter. “Americans are safer when America is committed to strengthening global health,” said.
Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage. https://t.co/8uazVIgPZB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 7, 2020
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Effective withdrawal in July 2021
The withdrawal will be effective after a period of one year, July 6, 2021, said Tuesday several officials of the United States government.
The notification was sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “who is the depository for WHO,” they said.
The United Nations also confirmed that it had received the US withdrawal letter on Monday.
The spokesperson for Antonio Guterres clarified that the United States, founding members of the WHO in 1948, had to fulfil two conditions to withdraw from the organisation: to respect a deadline of one year and to be up to date in their contributions.
Donald Trump had announced in late May “end the relationship” between his country and the WHO, which he accuses since the start of the pandemic of being too lenient with China, where the coronavirus appeared in December before spreading on the planet.
He also criticizes the boss of the WHO, the Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for having been unable to reform the organization.
The United States, which contributes 15% of the UN agency’s budget, or $ 400 million a year, will “redirect these funds to other urgent and global public health needs that deserve them,” he said. to the press.
The “knee-deep” country in the pandemic
The announcement comes as the pandemic has killed at least 539,620 people worldwide since late December, according to an assessment Tuesday by AFP from official sources.
The United States, which recorded its first death linked to the coronavirus in early February, is the country most affected with more than 130,000 deaths.
To the point of being “deep down to the knees” in the pandemic, estimated Monday evening the director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, while foci of contamination appeared in the south and west of the country after the deconfinement decided by the local authorities.
China, where the virus appeared at the end of last year, on Wednesday denounced “a new example of American unilateralism”.
In front of the press, a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Zhao Lijian, said that the American decision “undermines international efforts and will have a serious impact on developing countries”.
The Federation of American Scientists denounced the withdrawal of the country, considering that it intervened “at the moment when there is the most need for international cooperation”. It “will only harm the global fight against the Covid-19,” she lambasted.
The withdrawal “will not protect the lives or interests of Americans, it will leave Americans sick and America alone,” said Senator Robert Menendez, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
The WHO, which has not commented on Donald Trump’s decision, says that the epidemic is accelerating and that the peak of the pandemic is not yet reached.
