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Mahesh

22/01/25 09:07 AM IST

US withdraws from WHO

In News
  • United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on his very first day in office.
Implications of the order
  • One, any transfer of US funds and resources to the WHO will be paused.
  • Two, all US government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with the WHO will be recalled.
  • Three, the United States will “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by the WHO.”
  • Four, and importantly, the United States will cease negotiations towards the pandemic treaty the WHO is working on.
  • The accord aims to better prepare countries to respond to pandemics, create a framework for global cooperation if a pandemic happens, and develop mechanisms for equitably sharing medical countermeasures such as drugs and vaccines. “… actions taken to effectuate such agreement and amendments will have no binding force on the United States.
Financial Implications
  • Withdrawal of the United States is likely to have a huge financial impact on the WHO, with the agency receiving around a fifth of its funds from the country.
  • This is one of the points of contention for President Trump, with the executive order stating: “China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.”
  • WHO’s funding essentially comes in two ways — the mandatory assessed contributions from all its member countries, and the voluntary contributions raised from various countries and organisations. Over the years, the assessed contributions have remained stagnant and now cover less than 20% of the organisation’s budget.
  • In assessed contributions, the United States is the biggest payer, accounting for 22.5% of the contributions, followed by China at 15%.
  • In voluntary contributions, while the US is still the biggest donor, accounting for around 13% of the total contributions in 2023, China accounted for only about 0.14% of the total contributions.
  • The second biggest voluntary contributor was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  • In the 2024 funding round that ended in November, Australia, Indonesia, and Spain pledged USD 1.7 billion.
  • This led to WHO getting 53% of the USD 7.1 billion it needs for programme implementation between 2025-28.
  • This is up from 17% it had secured for its previous four-year period in 2020.
Impact on India
  • With WHO losing out on a significant proportion of its funding, its work across countries, including India, is likely to be affected.
  • The WHO participates in and supports several health programmes of the Indian government, such as its work on neglected tropical diseases, HIV-malaria-and tuberculosis, anti-microbial resistance, among others.
  • Importantly, it plays a significant role in the country’s immunisation programme, with WHO teams even monitoring vaccine coverage.
  • WHO participates in health programmes of countries across the world, to the extent their governments allow.
  • A funding cut like this would mean they will not be able to effectively implement these programmes.
  • Whether it is a pandemic due to a novel virus or chronic diseases, WHO provides framework guidelines that are utilised and adapted by countries for their local programmes.
  • These guidelines are usually developed by collecting all published evidence, grading them, and then discussing the evidence in expert committees.
  • These committees are constituted keeping in mind where a disease is endemic, where there is ongoing research in the area, where countermeasures are produced.
  • It is representative of different regions and genders. US experts are likely to be a part of several such committees and their work will get affected if they are pulled out.
Withdrawal from WHO
  • There is no provision for withdrawing in WHO’s constitution.
  • The US Congress, however, at the time of joining the organisation in 1948, had laid down a condition that said the country could withdraw after giving a one-year notice and meeting the financial obligations of the current year.
Source- Indian Express

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