Trump’s Withdrawal From the W.H.O. Will Be Disastrous for Global Health

Opinion|Without the United States, Global Health Will Fall Apart

The United States has long been a leader in global health, and it is critical to the safety of Americans that we remain so — which is why some of President Trump’s isolationist impulses are worrisome.

On Monday, hours after taking office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order announcing the United States will move to withdraw from the World Health Organization (something he tried to do during his first term, before Joe Biden reversed the decision as president). His plans to impose massive tariffs on goods imported into the country could be devastating to the manufacturing of medicines within our borders, given that many of the necessary ingredients come from abroad, including an estimated 60 percent from India and China, according to one analysis.

Americans’ health is at stake. Border walls and protectionist policies can’t stop infectious diseases from entering the country. Only with vigilant international monitoring of infections, containment of outbreaks and eventual eradication of infectious diseases around the world can Americans ever be protected and secure. We must prioritize sharing vaccines with other countries, training medical providers to offer care abroad, collaborating on clinical trials and research studies with other institutions and constant factual information-sharing about outbreaks and health trends throughout the world. And the United States must continue to lead the way.

Many regard America’s global health work as smart diplomacy. Even the most hostile countries welcome our medical expertise and support, because health security is essential to international security and to every country’s economy. The first Trump administration tempered active engagement in global health security initiatives shortly after coming into office. That left us far less capable of mounting a timely and robust response to the global outbreak of Covid-19, devastating the world’s economy and exacerbating conflicts around the world.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the pre-eminent world leader in global health thanks to the Department of Health and Human Services’ global health programs, U.S.A.I.D., and dozens of foundations and nonprofit groups, like the Gates Foundation. Many of its efforts have historically been organized under the umbrella of the W.H.O., whose members work together throughout the year to prevent pandemics, further vaccine programs that save lives and tackle issues like maternal mortality and Alzheimer’s disease that affect all countries.

U.S. leadership has always been critical to these efforts. Last year, the country led the team that successfully negotiated new amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations, which govern the rights, obligations and reporting requirements for 196 countries. These amendments are, in part, designed to strengthen the W.H.O.’s ability to declare and respond to a pandemic. U.S. leadership also helped spearhead meetings between country leaders on pandemic response, tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance at some of the latest United Nations General Assembly meetings.