Protest Against Donald Trump: Healthcare Community Condemns Decision To Withdraw US From WHO

Groups and professional associations representing physicians, disease experts and pediatricians have strongly criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Apart from being its usual contribution of about $110 million in a year for the past 10 years, the U.S. has supported the WHO through additional contributions of as much as $400 million per year. A huge portion of such contributions to the WHO goes toward research and development activities and also toward fighting infectious diseases across the world.

Trump’s recent announcement of suspending all types of contributions to the WHO means that the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and the WHO is over and the traditional leadership position that the U.S. has kept for so many years in WHO is lost.

The people from the healthcare community have strictly condemned Trump’s decision to withdraw from the WHO, fearing that doing this will severely affect the capability to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Trump Administration's decision to withdraw from the WHO carries grave risks for the world's children during an unprecedented global health crisis,” said the American Academy of Pediatrics in a statement.

The association further said that the withdrawal from the WHO will cause an increase in the number of polio cases and an increase in the death rate among children suffering from diseases such as malaria. Also, doing this will delay the vaccination campaigns that save millions of lives around the world.

It is further believed that no support to the WHO means that the country will not be able to contribute to the process of enabling meaningful reforms and also undermine global COVID-19 response.

The professional organization further urged Trump administration to reconsider their decision.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics urges the administration to reconsider its position and continue to work with the WHO to combat COVID-19 and promote the health of children globally."

The American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris said that Trump’s decision serves no logical purposes. Harris said that the decision will harmful effects now and in the future, especially when the WHO is leading the effort to develop and test COVID-19 drugs and vaccines to fight the pandemic.