Argentina’s president has ordered the country’s withdrawal from the WHO due to “profound differences” with the UN agency, a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Argentine President Javier Milei’s decision echoes that of his ally, US President Donald Trump, who began the process of pulling the US out of the WHO with an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 21.
The loss of another member country would further fracture cooperation in global health, although Argentina was expected to provide only about US$8 million to the WHO for the agency’s estimated US$6.9 billion budget for last year and this year.
Photo: AP
Argentina’s decision is based on “profound differences in health management, especially during the [COVID-19] pandemic,” spokesman Manuel Adorni told a news conference in Buenos Aires.
He said WHO guidelines at the time led to the largest shutdown “in the history of mankind.”
Argentina would not allow an international organization to intervene in its sovereignty “and much less in our health,” he added.
The WHO has no authority to compel countries to take specific health actions, and the organization’s guidelines and recommendations, including in health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, are often disregarded.
The WHO said it was looking into Argentina’s announcement.
Adorni did not say when Milei’s decision would be implemented. He also said that the WHO lacks independence because of the political influence of some countries, without naming any.
The WHO is the only organization mandated to coordinate global responses to acute health crises, particularly outbreaks of new diseases and persistent threats including Ebola, AIDS and mpox.
Milei was a sharp critic of the lockdown imposed by former Argentine president Alberto Fernandez during the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that it hurt the economy and that the government used it as a mechanism of “repression.”
“LONG LIVE FREEDOM,” Milei wrote on X on Wednesday criticizing the UN agency.
Argentina does not receive WHO funding for health management, and the president’s decision does not affect the quality of health services, Adorni said.
“On the contrary, it gives greater flexibility to implement policies adopted to the context of interests that Argentina requires,” he added.
Last year, Milei’s government refused to sign an agreement to manage pandemics within the WHO framework, on the grounds that doing so could affect national sovereignty.
The announcement on the WHO comes ahead of Milei’s trip to the US later this month, which coincides with the Conservative Political Action Conference summit of right-wing leaders in Washington.
The spokesperson has not confirmed that Milei would attend or that he might meet Trump.
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