US quits world health body, halts all aid

The US has quit the World Health Organization (WHO) on the grounds that the premier global health body mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic, failed to reform, and wasn't independent of the "political influence" of certain member states, a hint at China.

- Prashant Jha

WASHINGTON:

Trump has also halted all US foreign aid for a period of 90 days to study its efficacy and consistency with US foreign policy. In the order making the decision, Trump slammed the US "foreign aid industry and bureaucracy" for not being "aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values". The order alleged that US foreign aid had served to "destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries."

Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and WHO, his instruction to the Secretary of State through a formal order to follow an America First policy, and his decision to halt all foreign aid represent a dramatic set of moves that suggest the US will be more insular and guided by what it thinks is in its narrow tangible interest, it will deprive organisations dependent on US support of funds, and it will potentially leave space for other international actors to fill the void.

The WHO order In the order on WHO, Trump said that the US is withdrawing because of WHO's role in Covid, and "its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states"; The US, under Trump, had slammed the organisation for being too sympathetic to China's narrative when the pandemic broke out and withdrawn from WHO in 2020.