- President Donald Trump’s executive order to withdraw the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been welcomed with mixed reactions
- Some experts have claimed that the withdrawal would affect the international health group’s activities in Nigeria and Africa because the US is the largest funder of the WHO
- However, Dr Ronke Agoro, a health expert, explained that the development might be an advantage for Nigeria to look inward and develop internal solutions to its internal health challenges
Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States, has ordered the withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO), over how the international agency handled the COVID-19 outbreak, which emanated from China.
The decision has been said may have a significant impact on Nigeria and Africa at large, considering the fact that the US in 2023, contributed almost one-fifth of the agency’s budget.
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Source: Twitter
According to the BBC, public health experts are of the view that the move could reverse the progress made around the world in the fight against infectious diseases such as Malaria, Tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Some of these fights are being held in Nigeria and other African countries.
Trump ordered US withdrawal from WHO? Expert reacts
However, Dr Ronke Agoro, the deputy provost (Academic) at Lagos State College of Health Technology, in an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, said the development is “a new world order” and that it may not necessarily be a bad thing for Nigeria and other sovereign countries.
The medical expert maintained that it would give Nigeria and other sovereign countries to develop homegrown health policies rather than domesticating foreign policies.
She said:
“For any organisation or country that is sponsoring another organisation like the US doing to WHO, the budget would definitely be affected.
“However, maybe it is a good thing for every sovereign nation to take charge of how health policies are developed and/or implemented and not just follow the directives of an organisation. WHO’s essence has been questioned over the years, particularly during COVID-19.”
Will Trump’s executive order affect Nigeria?
Speaking on the implication of Donald Trump’s executive order, Agoro maintained that:
“It might not necessarily be completely bad, it just means that we have to develop a new strategy to deal with local and global ailments.
“The policies for Nigeria can now be properly domesticated from Nigeria and not automated from WHO, where Nigeria and other sovereign countries curate their own solutions to their own problems instead of domesticating or localising solutions and directives from WHO.
“It is a new world order, that’s how I see it. It might not necessarily be a bad thing if harnessed properly.”
Full list of Trump’s executive orders
Legit.ng earlier reported that the newly inaugurated president of the United States, Donald Trump, did not waste time before he started exercising his presidential powers.
In the first hours of his second term, the 47th US president signed a long list of executive orders, executive actions, and presidential memorandums.
Some of the orders include those he had implemented in his first term, but his predecessor, Joe Biden, reversed.
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Source: Legit.ng
