In his inaugural speech and throughout the following onslaught of executive orders on Monday, President Donald Trump began wading into issues of public health—including by starting the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.
Leaving the U.N.’s special health agency, established in 1948, is a move that experts warn could weaken the world’s defenses in the face of pandemics because of the loss of American funding. It could also roll back gains made against AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases, and weaken U.S. agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
