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

• 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
• Journal Title: The Lancet
• Volume: Volume 396, Number 10247
• Publisher: Elsevier Science Inc. | 2020-08-01, Pages 293-295
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31527-0
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Nursing
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Medicine, General & Internal; General & Internal Medicine

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