Argentina’s Milei follows Trump’s lead and exits the WHO

Buenos Aires — Argentina will pull out of the World Health Organisation (WHO), a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump’s executive order last month to pull the US out of the global health group.

Trump, who Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei considers a close ally, moved to exit the organisation on his first day in office on January 20.

Milei ordered Argentina’s withdrawal because of “deep differences” regarding the WHO’s management of health issues, notably the Covid-19 pandemic, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said, citing Argentina’s months-long lockdown under the previous leftist government.

Adorni also cited a “a lack of independence from the political influence of other states.”

Trump similarly claimed the global health agency had mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic and other international health crises, and that it required “unfairly onerous” payments from the US, its biggest funder.

Reuters