WHO turns to crowdfunding after Trump orders US withdrawal

The World Health Organization (WHO) set up a crowdfunding campaign on Thursday after President Donald Trump ordered his administration to withdraw from the organization.

“‘What if we proved WHO still matters?’” the campaign page reads. “‘If each of us, believing the UN isn’t perfect but it’s all we’ve got, gave just $1…’ Let’s raise $1 billion to support the World Health Organization’s critical mission of protecting global health, particularly in times of uncertainty and reduced funding.”

As of Sunday morning, the WHO raised just under $42,000 for its “1 Dollar, 1 World” campaign, 0.0042% of its goal.

Trump’s withdrawal order

The US has been the single largest contributor to the WHO, far more than countries like China whose population is 300% larger than the US but contributes 90% less. US contributions to the WHO exceed $500 million a year, and over $1 billion in 2022-2023. Trump initiated a withdrawal from the WHO in 2020, but Joe Biden reversed the process and intensified US participation in the globalist organization.

“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” stated the executive order Trump signed immediately after his inauguration last week. “In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.”

The EO revoked Biden’s actions in January 2021 that reaffirmed US membership in the WHO. It also ordered the Secretary of State and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to halt funding to the WHO, recall any federal employees working with the WHO, and find other partners to replace the WHO on relevant projects.

“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe,” the WHO said in a statement last week following Trump’s executive order.

At a rally on Saturday, Trump signaled he might consider rejoining the WHO at a future date if officials “clean it up,” though he did not elaborate.

"Maybe we would consider doing it again, I don't know. Maybe we would. They would have to clean it up," he told a Las Vegas crowd.

In addition to withdrawing from the organization, Trump ordered the Secretary of State to withdraw from negotiations on the WHO’s Pandemic Agreement and International Health Regulations.

The pandemic agreement

For over two years, the WHO has been making desperate attempts to ratify a “pandemic agreement” that would grant Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus singular power to declare pandemics for countries around the world. Ghebreyesus could announce a pandemic at any time and for any reason, such as a virus, a social condition like loneliness, or a phenomenon like “climate change.” 

Once a pandemic is declared, countries would be forced to transform into biosecurity states. Governments would be bound to respond to the “emergency” with such measures as censoring “misinformation” and cracking down on taxpayers who are non-compliant with public health measures. To that end, the WHO has partnered with the European Union to develop a global vaccine passport to “facilitate global mobility and protect citizens across the world.”

Despite the Biden administration’s strong support for a pandemic accord, the agreement hit a significant snag last year. Negotiations for a final draft of the treaty stalled, frustrating WHO officials who had hoped it would be signed at the World Health Assembly in May 2024. Now, without the WHO’s largest financial supporter, treaty negotiations are likely to stall indefinitely.

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