U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) and called for a “reboot” of global public health, in video remarks delivered today during the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
Kennedy said:
“Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics. … The WHO often acts like it has forgotten that its members must remain accountable to their own citizens and not to transnational or corporate interests.”
Kennedy’s remarks came one day after the WHO member states reached a deal on a Pandemic Agreement, and months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO on the first day of his second term in January.
Kennedy said the U.S. is open to international cooperation on public health, but not under the umbrella of the WHO.
