Written by Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge
LONDON/GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization is developing a list of reasons why the United States should remain in the World Health Organization for its own benefit, as part of an attempt by its supporters to exert pressure, two informed sources told Reuters. Next president Donald Trump.
Trump moved to withdraw from the UN health agency during his last presidency, and is expected to take similar steps in his new administration, perhaps once he is inaugurated on Monday.
The United States is the largest donor to the World Health Organization, and experts agree that its exit would be a blow to the Geneva agency and world health more broadly. But it could also leave the United States out in the cold during an outbreak, as well as for routine disease surveillance, which could impact the country's national security and pharmaceutical industry, the list notes.
The WHO did not publicly call for a change in the position of its member states, instead saying that the administration needed time, and expressed its hope to continue the partnership for the health of the world.
The list comes at the request of prominent American global health advocates, one of them told Reuters, saying they would use it to underscore the risks to the United States from a WHO exit.
“It would be a deep wound to the WHO, to global health, but an even more serious wound to the American national interest, and we are championing this issue to the best of our ability,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown University. University of Washington and Director of the WHO National Collaborating Center and Global health (NS:) Law.
Even if Trump announces his decision on the first day of his presidency, under domestic law there is a one-year notice period before the United States leaves the agency, during which advocates — including scientists, companies, former officials and civil society — hope to leave the agency. He changes his mind.
It is not yet clear whether they will present their findings directly to Trump's transition team or via a public letter.
Other figures have also campaigned for the WHO in recent weeks, including former British Prime Minister and WHO envoy Gordon Brown.
Health sources said that the World Health Organization has been holding meetings and preparing for months, and is ready to defend its cause.
“I know they were outlining WHO activities that would still be in the interest of the United States, even in the eyes of the Trump administration,” said a Geneva-based diplomat from a major donor country, familiar with WHO preparations.
The list shows how the United States outside the WHO will be deprived of vital information about any emerging disease — including H5N1 bird flu — that could become the next pandemic, the sources said.
“If we empty the WHO…it will come back to the United States. Germs don't respect borders,” Gostin said.
It also details the importance of access to international influenza surveillance data as well as the cost to US pharmaceutical companies of not having access to the latest WHO information.
The World Health Organization did not respond to a request for comment on the list.
Gostin and two other America experts said other steps may be taken in the next 12 months if Trump signals an exit plan, including potential lawsuits questioning whether the administration can leave without consulting Congress, which made the decision to join the World Health Organization. In 1948.
