United States’ decision to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Paris Agreement on climate change has met with a reaction from United Nations agencies.
The decisions were announced as part of a sweeping series of executive orders signed by US President Trump on his first day in office Monday.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević underscored the agency’s “crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans,” stressing that it addresses the root causes of disease, helps build stronger health systems, and prevents and responds to health emergencies “often in dangerous places where others cannot go.”
Jašarević highlighted WHO’s success in saving “countless lives” over the past decades by ending smallpox and bringing polio to the brink of eradication, all with the support of the US.
He added that American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership in WHO.
Jašarević pointed out that the US was WHO’s largest single donor, accounting for 18 per cent of the agency’s budget in 2023, and that the agency needed time to analyse the impact of the US withdrawal.
The US joined WHO in 1948 after a joint resolution was passed by both chambers of Congress. The resolution requires the country to provide one year’s notice to leave the organisation.
The UN health agency spokesperson expressed hope that the US “will reconsider as they hope to have a dialogue on President Trump’s decision for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe.
UN Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke highlighted the UN health agency’s importance, saying that “the world lives longer, healthier, perhaps a little bit happier because of WHO.”
UN weather agency WMO Clare Nullis also commented on the incoming US administration’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, calling the need for the pact “pretty obvious.”
She added that 2024 was the hottest year on record, stressing that last year the world “temporarily hit the 1.5°C level” above pre-industrial era temperatures.
A legally binding international treaty on climate change, the Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 parties at the COP 21 conference on climate change. Its main goal is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
She added that the US accounts for the “lion’s share of global economic losses from weather, climate, and water-related hazards.”
Nullis also added that “the US has sustained more than 400 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages or costs exceeded $1 billion,” with the total cost of these events exceeding $2.9 trillion.
