America First: No Heart for the Needs of the Poor

The worldwide fight against disease absolutely must continue despite Trump’s “America First” policy. Pathogens that are no problem for people in richer countries can be fatal for children and adults weakened by hunger.

The U.S. will leave the World Health Organization, Donald Trump decided in one of his first executive actions. He is officially justifying the move with the claim that the WHO did not properly react to the outbreak of the coronavirus and thus, did not put enough pressure on China to get to the bottom of it. The U.S. president is also saying that the organization needs to enact structural changes. The criticism is partially understandable. However, there is the question of whether this is the real reason for Trump’s uncompromising step — and why the U.S. doesn’t negotiate over reforms with the WHO, which, after all, has signaled that it is willing to talk.

It is more likely that Trump is searching for a pretense to end U.S. payments to the WHO, which recently amounted to some $1.284 billion in two years. Above all, the money funds aid projects and the fight against diseases in Africa. Obviously, it is difficult to reconcile with Trump’s “America First” motto. Solidarity with the poor of this world is not a matter close to the president’s heart.

It is not expected that Africa will now be left entirely to its own devices. Other countries will step in with WHO funding because they are afraid that pathogens that so far have primarily been active in Africa, such as the Mpox virus, could mutate and one day cause a pandemic. Or that some of the most dangerous illnesses today, such as Ebola or the Marburg virus, could spread beyond Africa.

These reasons for acting are not exactly selfless. It is often overlooked that these and other diseases are already claiming the lives of many victims in African countries and that the people there are especially vulnerable because of poor health care resulting from poverty and war. The so-called Disease X made headlines for this reason a few days ago. It was feared that a new disease had broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In reality, hundreds of children had sickened or died from unusually severe bouts of malaria because they were already very weak from famine. As soon as it became clear that it presented no danger for the rest of the world, attention waned again. Unfortunately, hardly any action was taken in light of many children unnecessarily dying because they lacked basic necessities.

The WHO needs to provide humanitarian aid in poor countries. Even Trump’s cold-hearted move should not hold back this mission. Preventing disease from breaking out in the rest of the world remains an important goal. In Africa, we should already be doing everything that we can today to improve people’s health and save lives.