President Javier Milei has decided to formally withdraw Argentina from the World Health Organization, the government confirmed Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Manmuel Adorni confirmed the decision, which echoes last month’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that the United States would pull out from the UN agency.
"President [Javier] Milei instructed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina's participation in the World Health Organisation. This is based on the profound differences with regard to health management, especially during the [Covid-19] pandemic," said the spokesman.
“We Argentines are not going to allow an international organisation to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” he stressed at a press conference.
Adorni claimed that the WHO, along with Milei’s successor in office Alberto Fernández, led Argentina into “the longest lockdown in the history of humanity,” referencing the nation’s strict Covid-19 lockdown between 2020 and 2021.
The WHO had “failed its greatest litmus test” by promoting “eternal quarantines without scientific support” during the pandemic, he alleged.
'Nefarious'
Milei issued a statement a few hours after the announcement, denouncing the WHO as “nefarious” and claiming it had played the role of the “executive arm” of the “biggest experiment of social control in history.”
Denouncing its authorities as “ideologues,” Argentina’s leader said its “quarantine” policies during the Covid-19 pandemic led it to be part of “one of the most outlandish crimes against humanity in history.”
Milei’s top spokesperson claimed the withdrawal would “give the country greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the context of interests that Argentina requires, as well as greater availability of resources and reaffirms our path towards a country with sovereignty in health matters.”
Unnamed government officials, cited by the La Nación daily said that the decision would save around US$10 million a year.
WHO data shows Argentina contributed some US$8.75 million in membership fees to the organization across 2022 and 2023 – 0.11 percent of the total budget. It is slated to contribute US$8.25 million for the two-year 2024/25 cycle.
The vast majority of the United Nations health agency's budget comes from voluntary contributions, however, and Argentina has made none in recent years.
Adorni said Argentina “does not receive funding from the WHO for health management, therefore this measure – unlike some have said at least on social networks – does not represent a loss of funds for the country nor does it affect the quality of services.”
Last year, Argentina refused to join a new pandemic protocol drawn up by the WHO and gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the agency altogether.
Following in Trump’s footsteps
Milei’s decision is in line with the recent executive order signed by Trump ordering the United States to depart the WHO.
Argentina’s self-declared "anarcho-capitalist" head of state is an avowed fan of Trump, who signed an order within hours of his January 20 inauguration for the United States to withdraw from the WHO, which he has also criticised for its handling of the pandemic.
The United States is by far the WHO's biggest donor and its withdrawal will leave a major hole in the organisation's budget and its ability to respond to global public health threats.
In its last complete budget cycle, for 2022-23, the United States pitched in US$1.3 billion, representing 16.3 percent of the WHO's US$7.89 billion budget. Most of the US funding was via voluntary contributions.
The World Health Organization last week urged the United States to reconsider a decision to suspend funding for HIV treatment programmes in developing countries, after Trump ordered an almost-complete freeze on foreign aid.
"We call on the government of the United States of America to enable additional exemptions to ensure the delivery of lifesaving HIV treatment and care," the UN health body said on X, adding that it had "deep concern" over the funding pause.
With regards to HIV, the agency said that its programmes provided access to "life-saving HIV therapy to more than 30 million people worldwide.”
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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