In response to President Trump's plan for the U.S. to leave the World Health Organization, Oxfam America's Director of Economic and Racial Justice Nabil Ahmed, said:
The decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw from the World Health Organization is one that makes Americans - and people across the world - less safe. U.S. support for public health programming is vital to supporting children and others in urgent need around the world who are living in poverty and facing humanitarian crises - withdrawal will cost lives and deny people's basic rights to health
Viruses and diseases do not respect borders, and we live in a world where the next pandemic is a question not of if, but when. We need international cooperation and US leadership to improve access to healthcare and to prevent and fight disease everywhere, including accelerating the development of life-saving cures.
But there's another major implication: when governments pull back internationally, Big Pharma moves in. The U.S. opting out of the WHO leaves more decisions on international health up to corporations who are more motivated by making even more extraordinary profits than providing equal access to medicines that will save lives.
The Trump Administration is making a dangerous gamble that undermines our health and safety - and we know what the consequences will be.