Amidst a string of immediate policy announcements after taking office, US President Joe Biden has re-joined the United States as a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO), reversing the decision of former President Donald Trump to pull out of the international health body last year.
The move will likely be highly beneficial to the organisation as well as the United States for a number of reasons. Firstly, the WHO receives significant funding from the United States to carry out its work, such as investigating and fighting the current pandemic and other emerging health threats. Secondly, the United States will benefit greatly from the knowledge being gained by WHO scientists across the world.
Biden has also announced that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, which has become a household name across the United States for fronting the US campaign against Coivd-19, to represent the US on the WHO's executive committee. Fauci had been highly uncomfortable working with Donald Trump as he believed his statements to 'not be based on scientific fact'. This included suggesting ingesting bleach or putting 'light inside the body' could rid a patient of a Covid-19 infection. Trump himself had often criticised the esteemed doctor and undermined his public health advice.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said of Biden's executive decision:
"This is a good day for WHO, and a good day for global health."
Thomas Bollyky, who directs the Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, also said that if the US had not re-joined the WHO:
"It would have done tremendous damage to the international institution charged with protecting us from this pandemic and future dangerous disease outbreaks. US interests are better served inside WHO than outside it."
Lawrence Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, added that it was vital that funding of the WHO be ramped up if the pandemic was to be defeated and for future health-crises be averted or properly dealt with, he said:
"This is very good news for America, for WHO and the world. Right now, the world and America has the WHO we deserve. We underfund it, we don't politically support it, we turn our back when countries violate WHO norms. The fact that WHO isn't as strong as we want it is our own fault."
The WHO was founded in 1948 by the United Nations following the Second World War. It has 194 national member states and aims to provide protection against health emergencies such as pandemics and global disasters. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
h/t: USA TODAY
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