Argentina will withdraw from the WHO
Argentina will withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said today.
Argentina's decision comes after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month withdrawing the United States from the global health organization.
Adorni stated that the WHO's management of the pandemic and the decisions of former President Alberto Fernández "led Argentina into the longest isolation in human history" and that the country was subject to political influence from several states.
"Argentines will not allow an international organization to interfere with our sovereignty, much less our healthcare," Adorni said.
He added that Argentina does not receive funding from the WHO for health management and that the decision to withdraw does not mean cuts.
"This will not affect the quality of health services," he stressed.
As reported by the Buenos Aires Herald, in addition to withdrawing from the WHO, Argentina is also considering exiting the Paris Agreement on climate change, Adorni added.
Recall, on January 22, Trump announced that the country would withdraw from the World Health Organization, adding that the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
Trump then said that the WHO had failed to be independent from "undue political influence from member states" and demanded "unfairly heavy payments" from the US that were disproportionate to the amounts offered by other, larger countries, such as China.
The move means the US has withdrawn from the United Nations health agency for 12 months and has halted all financial contributions to its work.
The United States is by far the largest financial supporter of the WHO, with about 18 percent of total funding. The WHO's 2024-2025 budget was $6.8 billion.
