US withdrawal from WHO is unlawful and threatens global and US health and security

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown University; Harold Hongju Koh, Yale University; Michelle Williams, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Margaret A. Hamburg, National Academy of Sciences; Georges Benjamin, American Public Health Association; William H. Foege, Emory University; Patricia Davidson, Johns Hopkins University; Elizabeth H. Bradley, Vassar College; Michele Barry, Stanford University; Jeffrey Koplan, Emory University; Mirta Flia Roses Periago, National Academy of Sciences; Wafaa El Sadr, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; Ann Kurth, Yale University; Sten H. Vermund, Yale University; Matthew M. Kavanagh, Georgetown University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-08-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Science Inc.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31527-0
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: The Lancet
• Volume: 396
• Issue: 10247
• Start Page: 293
• End Page: 295
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Science & Technology; General & Internal Medicine; Medicine, General & Internal; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Nursing; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

On May 29, 2020, President Donald Trump announced the USA would sever its relationship with WHO and redirect funds to US global health priorities.1 On July 6, 2020, the US administration officially notified UN Secretary-General António Guterres of its intention to withdraw from WHO membership.2 This notification coincides with record daily increases in COVID-19 cases worldwide and rising infections in more than three-quarters of the US states.3, 4 In response, 750 leaders from academia, science, and law have urged the US Congress to block the president's action.5