Argentina outside the WHO: a political and sanitary nonsense, according to experts

The decision of the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, to follow the example of Donald Trump and withdraw his country from the World Health Organization (WHO) lacks logic at the level of foreign policy and is an «aberration» from the health point of view, experts consulted by EFE affirm.

The measure announced on Wednesday and widely questioned by various opposition sectors is based on arguments that political health and public health experts do not conform to the facts.

By justifying his decision, Milei’s Executive claimed that an international organism cannot be intervened in the «sovereignty» of a country and said that WHO’s «recipes» «are the result of political influence, not based on science ».

In addition, he questioned the health management of the Covid-19 Pandemia by the WHO, to which Argentina belongs since its creation in 1948 and which Milei accused of being «the executing arm» of the «greatest social control experiment of the social control of the social control of the History », in reference to the quarantines implemented during the pandemic.

Aberration and ignorance

«The WHO task has been invaluable within the framework of Pandemia, which has involved a cooperation scheme of countries, scientific organizations and companies to generate the solutions that this crisis demanded. Argentina is going to receive the damages of moving away from that organization, ”political analyst Jorge Arias, from the Polilat consultancy, told Efe.

The OMS departure will imply, among other things, stay out of international collaboration for training, scientific studies and analysis of epidemiological impacts, and without access to financial information and support.

«The measure is an aberration, a sample of absolute ignorance. WHO is a coordination and cooperation agency, it does not impose any policy, it only makes recommendations, ”said the doctor and public health expert Adrián Andreatta, coordinator of the health planning area of ​​the Esperanza Foundation.

Andreatta defended the health actions applied by the then government of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) before the pandemic and questioned the policy of the Milei Executive in the area of ​​health, with budget cuts within the severe adjustment plan implemented since the late 2023 .

«Taking out the medications to retirees, not attending the disabilities, throwing hospitals or closing them are policies of this government, the WHO did not recommend,» Andreatta said.

Trump’s imitation

This Wednesday’s announcement arrives two weeks after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to withdraw his country from the WHO, arguing that he contributed many more resources than China to the agency.

«Undoubtedly, Milei competes for being Trump’s most advanced student. There is a strategic coincidence of the new right, ”said Arias.

According to the expert, «for Argentina’s political leadership there is nothing more important than making ‘follow -up’ of Trump’s policies and Elon Musk, in particular, so we will surely continue to see chapters in this sad international novel.»

«Milei’s decision to leave WHO is given within the framework of a series of imitations of what Trump does, but without any sense. There is no background transaction nor is there an order from the United States. It is a unilateral decision of Milei with very negative consequences for Argentina, ”political analyst Patricio Giusto, director of the political diagnostic consultant, told Efe.

The expert questioned the government’s argument of the alleged need to «recover sovereignty» because «supraestatal organisms do not make decisions that are imposed on the sovereignty of the states, which can apply or not those decisions.»

«Without coordination with global health policies, the consequences will be very burdensome in terms of fighting diseases that are transnational. He is shameful and unfortunate, ”he concluded. EFE