His decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) will be catastrophic if it is more than bluster. We all have media fatigue. Wellness disinformation is rampant. But we cannot be complacent. This Executive Order isn’t just another “crazy thing Trump has done” to add to the pile.
The US leaving the WHO is a moral failing even more than it is a catastrophic policy decision
And it reeks of ignorance from people who have not experienced places where the WHO is the difference between life and death for billions of people. It’s cruel and immoral. And it will harm Americans and the rest of the planet.
During our preparations to travel to India and while here, I have the privilege of being a middle class person from a developed nation. I received all my vaccines for deadly diseases that are more common here: hepatitis A, typhoid, Japanese encephalitis—plus all routine vaccines. I have malaria prophylaxis at my disposal, filled at the CVS pharmacy 2 miles from my house. I have permethrin-treated clothing, DEET and picaridin-based insect repellents to prevent bites from disease-carrying arthropods. I have a first aid kit complete with oral rehydration solution packets, disinfectants, antibiotic ointment, azithromycin, bandages, and more.
And even when traveling to remote areas, as foreigners, we still have access to potable water. In contrast, people who live here have no guarantee they will have the basics, much less life-saving medicines. I have resources and options that the villagers here don’t have.
People here rely on WHO-coordinated vaccination campaigns or local clinics that are underfunded and understaffed. For those who don’t have privilege, WHO is the reason their children are protected against measles or polio.
The US, with all its resources, is turning its back on these people. It reeks of privilege and an ignorance of how interconnected health actually is.
The WHO is a global lifeline for health—even if it isn’t perfect
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the agency of the United Nations (UN) responsible for global public health. WHO works to promote health, prevent disease—acute and chronic, and address public health issues including:
- Establishing global health guidelines including vaccination schedules, disease treatment protocols, and international regulations for health emergencies.
- Disease surveillance of infectious diseases, and eradication programs like smallpox vaccination programs and malaria reduction methods like mosquito netting.
- Public health campaigns to address chronic diseases, maternal mortality, pediatric health, mental health, and nutrition.
- Coordinates global health emergency responses during crises like pandemics, natural disasters, and conflicts.
- Builds local infrastructure in developing nations by training healthcare providers and community health centers.
The WHO has saved millions of lives across the planet
The WHO deserves much of the credit for key public health successes in recent history. For example, global vaccination programs led by WHO is the reason smallpox was eradicated from all of humankind, the reason polio is only endemic in 2 countries compared to 125 countries as recently as 1988, and has reduced global malaria deaths by 45% in the last 25 years.
As I sit here with my atovaquone-proguanil pills that I take every day, relatively insulated from risks of this deadly parasitic infection, I think about the fact that 76% of deaths from malaria occur in children under 5 in countries who don’t have the resources to control mosquito populations or treat people en masse.
Other examples of life-saving WHO-led initiatives:
- WHO-led measles vaccination campaigns reduced measles deaths by 73% between saving an estimated 27 million lives, primarily children.
- WHO-led malaria prevention programs including distribution of insecitide mosquito netting, providing anti-malarials to communities with oubreaks, and education programs have drastically reduced the global disease burden. Even still, there are nearly 600,000 deaths every year due to malaria, but the recently approved malaria vaccines are another tool the WHO is using to combat this.
- The WHO coordinated the global COVID-19 response, including the COVAX initiative, which ensured equitable vaccine distribution to low-income countries based on no-patent vaccine formulations provided by researchers involved in the project.
- The WHO led the development of oral rehydration solution (ORS) along with UNICEF in the 1970s (and updated in 2000), in order to combat life-threatening dehydration caused by diarrheal diseases in developing nations. ORS has saved an estimated 50 million lives and has reduced diarrheal-disease associated mortality by 50%.
Without the WHO, many of these programs would stall or collapse, leaving millions without access to life-saving interventions. But this isn’t just about “other countries.”
The WHO affects Americans even if you don’t realize it.
I’ve already heard the rhetoric, even while on vacation, to the effect of “why should Americans have to pay to fund WHO, if these things are for other countries?” — well aside from the fact that’s an incredibly selfish sentiment, it’s because these things aren’t just for other countries. The US withdrawing from the WHO and with it, 22% of WHO funding will affect every single person on the planet. Yes, even you.
(As an aside, the US contributes 22% based on every member nation’s GDP. More wealthy countries contribute more—because membership dues are based on a proportion of wealth)
How will WHO withdrawal affect you?
- Pandemic preparedness: remember the surveillance and news reports of a new respiratory disease in China, back in December 2019? Thank the WHO’s early warning systems. WHO helps coordinate global disease surveillance and response. Without WHO, every country, including ours, would have acted even slower. Pulling funding weakens all of that, leaving everyone more vulnerable to global spread of disease. The US would also lose access to all of the collated information, meaning all of you would be personally at risk.
- Vaccine distribution: WHO is integral in global vaccine supply chains, including sourcing materials, ingredients, and equipment to manufacture vaccines, as well as physical deployment of vaccines. Without that infrastructure, vaccine distribution and vaccination campaigns could be delayed, including during public health crises.
- Antibiotic resistance research: evolution occurs across the board, including in bacterial species, which are developing resistance to antibiotics that have been around for decades. The WHO has spearheaded much of the research and development into novel antibiotics geared toward addressing this challenge. Removing support means common bacterial infections may no longer be able to be treated, moving us backwards in our quest for health.
- The US would no longer participate in shaping global health policy if we leave the WHO. That means countries like Russia could exert more influence and put all Americans at risk.
- Higher healthcare costs as preventable diseases surge in the US, leading to increased illness and death, increased overall healthcare costs and burden, which is absorbed by all of us in our for-profit insurance infrastructure.
So while wellness influencers sit on social media telling you seed oils are causing cancer and red dye no. 3 is ‘“toxic” (spoiler: neither are true), the WHO has been working to address actual public health threats that impact all people.
The wellness industry, the “MAHA” movement, and Trump’s health leadership nominees are going to cause preventable deaths
The most infuriating part of this is that unqualified ideologues pushing medical conspiracism are a major contributor to this. You’ve heard it: “Big Pharma” is evil, scientists are pharma shills, natural cures are “better,” and vaccines are a big conspiracy to make us sick. This isn’t just false—it’s dangerous.
Share this article
Wellness influencers, the MAHA movement (including RFK Jr., Calley and Casey Means, Mark Hyman, Mehmet Oz, Jay Bhattacharya, Marty Makary, et. al), and activist groups like EWG, CSPI, and Consumer Reports pretend they are “champions of health,” but their actions are nothing more than privilege masquerading as conspiracism. They demonize scientific interventions that actually do improve health, while making money selling products that can cause harm.
These people are millionaires, some even billionaires. They don’t want for anything. They’ve got deep pockets, powerful lobbyists, and the ear of our politicians. And that has led to a dangerous pattern of anti-science disinformation being adopted as policy.
It’s easy to criticize vaccines when you’ve never had to bury a child lost to measles.
It’s easy to push “immune-boosting smoothies” when you live in a country with clean water, plumbing, and modern sanitation.
It’s easy to claim “healthy food” has to do with single food ingredients when you have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
It’s easy to demonize organizations like the WHO when you’ve never depended on them to stop an epidemic from wiping out your community.
The wellness industry undermines support for organizations like the WHO, painting them as villains by creating mistrust of governmental agencies. The Trump Administration and his nominees for health and science leadership roles are fully embracing and adopting this. This announcement of withdrawal from the WHO is only the beginning.
The wellness industry doesn’t actually improve health
Guess what? Your detox tea isn’t going to cure malaria. Your immunity supplements won’t protect you from cholera. Your organic (but still grown with pesticides) salad greens aren’t going to combat life-threatening diarrhea due to rotavirus.
Wellness rhetoric pretends individual choices determine health outcomes, ignoring the reality that public health systems are the backbone of our health today. In 1900, our life expectancy was 47 in the US, and our top 3 causes of death are now no longer a concern for us—because of public health systems. But they are very much still a concern for developing nations. That’s where the WHO comes in.
Here in India, the privilege gap is glaring. Kids play in the dirt, unaware that a mosquito bite could kill them, and not having access to medicines we do. Families don’t have running water, or if they do, that water is contaminated with bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens we have eliminated through water treatment.
These communities, like a large swath of the world, rely on the WHO. These families would kill to have access to vaccines that wellness influencers in the US are actively convincing people to refuse.
Whenever I travel to a developing nation, I am acutely aware of my privilege and the inequities that exist. By abandoning our global responsibility and leaving these countries to fend for themselves, it increases the risk that these disease challenges will spread further, because diseases don’t care about country borders.
While social media is filled with wellness influencers talking about which health hack is going to “boost immunity” best, actual scientists like me, my colleagues—and organizations like the WHO—are actually doing the work to substantively improve the health of all people, not just affluent ones.
Walking away from the WHO will cause tangible harm to all of us.
Assuming that public health is someone else’s problem, like Trump is doing right now, is the epitome of privilege. Clearly, we didn’t learn anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, because if we had, we would realize that ignoring global health threats doesn’t make them go away.
And yet, influencers are screaming about seed oils, food colorings, and vaccines are some grand conspiracy. It’s hard not to feel a little bitter about the privilege that allows for such frivolity while the rest of the world deals with actual public health crises.
As an American, I’m frustrated. As a biomedical scientist in a remote area of northeastern India among people who will be abandoned by this, I’m angry.
I don’t know if any politician in DC or wellness influencer has been to a place like this, but clearly they need to. They need to understand what it’s like to live in a world where clean water, vaccines, food, and healthcare aren’t guarantees.
Pulling funding from the WHO doesn’t just weaken their ability to protect others; it directly impacts everyone, including Americans. It’s a textbook example of shortsightedness wrapped in privilege, and we will all become less healthy as a result.
Dr. Andrea Love, a microbiologist and immunologist, provides the facts (and the data!) on science and health topics. Follow Andrea on X @dr_andrealove
A version of this article was originally posted at Immunologic and has been reposted here with permission. Any reposting should credit the original author and provide links to both the GLP and the original article.
