Trump's Second Term Threatens US Leadership on Global Health

Funding cuts and rejection of scientific best practice among concerns raised

- Hannah Kuchler, David Pilling and Michael Peel

Donald Trump's return to the US presidency threatens to shake up and, in some cases, undermine Washington's commitments to global efforts to improve public health, according to multiple organizations and officials.

The plans by Trump's transition team to again trigger a withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) reflected a wider suspicion of international bodies, they said, casting doubt over US contributions to scientific research, infectious disease control and pandemic preparation.

Dr John-Arne Rottingen, chief executive of Wellcome Trust, one of the largest foundations funding health research, said: "US health leaders bring tremendous technical expertise, leadership and influence, and their potential loss from the world stage would have catastrophic implications, leaving the US and global health weaker as a result."

Experts are also concerned that the second Trump administration will spurn scientific best practice, spreading disinformation globally.

They cite Trump's nomination of Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a prominent anti-vaccine campaigner, as health and human services secretary.

Discouraging vaccination campaigns would threaten "millions of lives worldwide", said Mr Peter Maybarduk, the access to medicine director at Public Citizen, a US-based consumer advocacy group. "Disinformation could roll back one of humanity's chief accomplishments of the past 100 years."

A person close to the Trump transition team said: "I don't think President Trump much cares what self-titled global health experts say. The American people resoundingly voted against the elites and those shoving their know-better attitude down the throats of the American people."

Health experts have already warned that Trump plans to start the process of leaving the WHO on the first day of his administration on Jan 20, completing unfinished business from his first term and potentially crippling vital programmes.