Argentina To Pull Out Of WHO After Trump

Argentina has announced it will pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), mirroring a similar move by US President Donald Trump last month.

“President (Javier) Milei instructed (foreign minister) Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina’s participation in the World Health Organization,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” he added.

Trump, whom Milei considers an ideological ally, announced on his first day back in the White House in January he is withdrawing the United States from the WHO, drawing criticism from public health experts.

Adorni said Argentina’s decision was based on “profound differences regarding… health management, especially during the pandemic that… led us to the longest lockdown in human history and a lack of independence in the face of the political influence of some states.”

A statement later released from Argentina’s presidential office accused WHO of causing economic damage during the Covid-19 pandemic by “[promoting] endless quarantines.”

“It is urgent to rethink from the international community why supranational organizations exist, funded by all, that do not meet the objectives for which they were created, engage in international politics, and seek to impose themselves above member countries,” the statement read.

Trump similarly criticized the United Nations’ health agency in his executive order on January 20, citing the organization’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” as reasons for the US withdrawal.

WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time he “regrets” Trump’s decision to withdraw, emphasizing the US also gains from the agency to which it contributes.

Though WHO works in Argentina, Adorni said his country does not receive financing from WHO for health management. “Therefore, this measure… does not represent a loss of funds for the country nor does it affect the quality of services,” he said.

He claimed the withdrawal would provide “greater flexibility to implement policies” in Argentina’s interests and “greater availability of resources.”

“It reaffirms our path towards a country with sovereignty also in health matters,” he added.

WHO was founded in 1948 in an attempt to protect the world’s health. Its constitution, signed by all UN members at the time, warned that “unequal development” in the health systems of different countries was a “common danger.”

Today, the agency works in more than 150 locations around the world, leads efforts to expand universal health coverage and directs the international response to health emergencies, from yellow fever to cholera and Ebola.

(CNN)