United States Completes WHO Withdrawal

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/united-states-completes-who-withdrawal.html

by Swizec • 6 months ago

119 38 6 months ago

Going forward, the U.S. government will continue its global health leadership through existing and new engagements directly with other countries, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and faith-based entities. U.S.-led efforts will prioritize emergency response, biosecurity coordination, and health innovation to protect America first while delivering benefits to partners around the world.

The funny thing about this administration is that they label existing system as "bad" and "corrupt", use that as justification to abandon it, and then proceed to recreate the same thing different way.

hackyhacky• 6 months ago

The point is to enable corruption that benefits current office-holders and prevent any activity, corrupt or not, that benefits anyone else.

0928374082• 6 months ago

See Goldstein, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism" (1949)

RajBhai• 6 months ago

NAFTA bad. USMCA good.

xingped• 6 months ago

You think they will actually replace it with something similar though. They won't. They have no desire to do that. Even in name. Just like all their other supposed plans - it's just smoke and mirrors and no one will actually do any such thing.

roenxi2• 6 months ago

I dunno, reading it in context of the whole statement, "...and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states" deserves a bit of focus. The UN is structurally designed to give China and Russia outsized influence. Coordinating technical matters like healthcare through the UN does seem a bit unwise given that everyone is posturing up for some sort of Cold-war or potential WWIII style scenario. I don't think we've seen much deescalation of tension in the last decade.

Better to leave the bandwidth of the UN free to focus on diplomacy without distractions, the military situation is urgent.

dc396• 6 months ago

The UN is structurally designed to give China and Russia outsized influence.

An interesting assertion. I presume you are implying outsized influence over the US (or do you mean every other country?). I'm honestly curious: can you describe this structural design?

hshdhdhj4444• 6 months ago

Coordinating technical matters like healthcare through the UN does seem a bit unwise given that everyone is posturing up for some sort of Cold-war or potential WWIII style scenario.

On the contrary, the fact that we have to coordinate technical matters like healthcare through the UN is a large part of the reason why the Cold War remained cold and we had WW2 within 20 years of WW1 but no WW3 in the 80 years since.

Until the US decided to re-elect a literal madman, the necessity of coordinating on technical matters was obvious to all, which meant these countries weee constantly talking, building relationships and communicating with each other which helped prevent minor conflagrations from escalating.

0hw0t• 6 months ago

Art of the Deal

jjav• 6 months ago

proceed to recreate the same thing different way

Not a same or similar thing in any way. Everything that is being torn down is being replaced by grifter schemes where all that money is funneled to personal pockets.

pmarreck4• 6 months ago

faith-based entities

Look, believe what you want, but praying literally has no known demonstrable deterministic scientific or medical effect on people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficacy_of_prayer

King-Aaron2• 6 months ago

There is literally no point invoking research and factual information into an argument with a religious person.

snehk2• 6 months ago

Not sure how it is in the US but in Germany there are many faith-based entities providing regular health services. Malteser would be one of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malteser_Hilfsdienst_e.V.

fsh• 6 months ago

These church-owned entities in Germany are almost 100% government fincanced [1], while abusing a loophole in the German constitution to discriminate their employees for religious reasons. For example, the Catholic ones are notorious for firing employees that get divorced. This system is an absolute disgrace, but the churches are still too powerful in German society and have so far been able to block any attempt at fixing the constitution.

[1] https://www.malteser-international.org/en/about-us/how-we-wo...

pmarreck4• 6 months ago

I am ENTIRELY fine with faith providing moral support or justification to tangible human benefits. One of my favorite (and possibly world-famous) hospitals is St. Francis Heart Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francis_Hospital_(Flower_H...

I am not fine with government funds being used to support "prayer" as a means to a more healthy end. In fact I think this arguably violates the 1st Amendment to the Constitution.

plagiarist• 6 months ago

I sure wish demonstrable facts had mattered to the constituents at any point in time over the last 10 years.

King-Aaron2• 6 months ago

Amathia runs rife in these people.

standardUser• 6 months ago

Maybe the Board of Peace can pick up the slack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Peace

ChrisArchitect• 6 months ago

Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46727669

phendrenad2• 6 months ago

This is extremely disappointing all-around. The World Health Organization was at the forefront of sounding the alarm about COVID-19 early on, and was one of the first to start preparing for the eventuality that it would spread beyond it's origin point. While most people in the US were still saying it wasn't airborne, and downplaying the spread potential and health effects of COVID, the WHO was sounding the alarm on that, too. Ah yes. A little satire does the heart good, you know?

mahirsaid• 6 months ago

I agree there is only so much an organization can do After the spread, countries themselves have to take action in behalf of the organization's directions and procedures. The U.S. at the time took way too long to act, this was a fact, clearly why some governors were in a tweeting match and arguments over this issue. I do not agree with this direction. Clearly there is alternative motive behind this amongst the multiple other useless withdraws and steps taking at this time.

BLKNSLVR• 6 months ago

The WHO delayed declaring a global public health emergency and a pandemic during the early stages of COVID-19, costing the world critical weeks as the virus spread.

Isn't this administrations position that COVID was kinda a nothingburger anyway. Not worth all the fuss?

Not that it's out of the ordinary for this administration, just another grain on an increasingly large pile of hypocrisy sand. Whatever serves their agenda.

The U.S. is the world’s leading force in protecting public health, saving lives, and responding rapidly to infectious disease outbreaks. Going forward, the U.S. government will continue its global health leadership through existing and new engagements directly with other countries, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and faith-based entities. U.S.-led efforts will prioritize emergency response, biosecurity coordination, and health innovation to protect America first while delivering benefits to partners around the world.

Firstly, let's update it to "was the world's leading force". Secondly, I hope they're not going to be foisting their newfound vaccine skepticism[0] on the rest of the world. Holy shit if they do.

[0] https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/22/vaccine-policy-adviser-k...

Some choice quotes in that article.

alexgieg• 6 months ago

I hope they're not going to be foisting their newfound vaccine skepticism[0] on the rest of the world.

Unfortunately they are spreading it. Everywhere US far-right propaganda touches, including via local branches of American Christian denominations, becomes an anti-vax vector.

Brazil is a prime example. We have here a copycat version of the US far-right in the form of Bolsonaro worshippers, aligned with Pentecostal and Neopentecostal churches, spreading anti-vax rhetorics all around social media, to the point it's influencing people outside their bubble.

arisAlexis• 6 months ago

The fact that Tedros is still the head while he mishandled completely the biggest catastrophe of our era should be taken seriously.

geldedus• 6 months ago

Not surprising, given the state of healthcare in the US

daft_pink• 6 months ago

Finally!

United States Completes WHO Withdrawal

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