MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei pulls Argentina out of WHO

Leaving the WHO does not mean leaving the PAHO, Health Minister Mario Lugones explained

Argentine Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni announced Wednesday during his morning press briefing that his country would be following in on Donald Trump's steps and withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), which entailed disbursements totaling around US$ 10 million annually.

“I wanted to ratify to you that President [Javier] Milei instructed the Foreign Minister [Gerardo Werthein] to withdraw Argentina's participation from the World Health Organization,” Adorni stressed while noting that the head of State's decision was grounded on “profound differences” with the United Nations (UN) agency, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Adorni also criticized former President Alberto Fernández's administration for the way it handled the sanitary crisis, leading “us to the longest confinement in the history of mankind.”

“The lack of political independence vis-à-vis some States” would be another reason for Milei's call. “We Argentines are not going to allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty and much less in our health,” Adorni further explained while noting that departing from the WHO would not entail any “loss of funds for the country” or affect the quality of medical services otherwise. On the contrary, it would give Argentina greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the country's best interests.

“At the request of President @JMilei, we have started the process for Argentina to stop being part of the World Health Organization. We Argentines will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, or in our health,” Health Minister Mario Lugones posted on X. “Argentina does not receive funding from the WHO and although some technical cooperation projects may receive funding, these are carried out through [the Panamerican Health Organization] PAHO,” he added.

The Minister also made it clear that “leaving the WHO does not mean leaving PAHO, which is pre-existing and depends on the [Organization of American States] OAS,” Lugones also argued.

Meanwhile, the WHO has already recognized that the US severance “aggravated our financial situation, and we know that it has generated great concern and uncertainty among WHO staff,” Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Earlier this week Trump ordered all federal agencies to pause “future transfers of US government funds, support, or resources to the WHO” because it “ripped us off.”

Last week, Milei's administration explained the scope of its “chainsaw” government spending cuts on health issues, particularly those regarding the HIV and Vaccine Directorates, which were “oversized.” The Health Ministry underlined that the ongoing “restructuring” would “not affect the operation or the fulfillment of [the State's] responsibilities”.

“We decided not to renew many contracts of the HIV and Vaccines directorates since we are convinced that we have to put together work teams in a different way: avoid direct purchases from a single supplier, avoid throwing away vaccines and supplies for millions and millions of dollars. We need new teams for the new challenges, not more of what has been proven not to have worked,” Health Ministry sources were quoted by Crónica as saying.

“Only in flu vaccines, between 2021 and 2023, 12.3 million dollars were squandered,” the sources added. This year, “the destruction of 2.9 million vaccines” worth US$ 16 million “will be avoided.”