President Javier Milei has ordered Argentina’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization due to profound differences with the U.N. agency, a presidential spokesperson said Wednesday.
Milei’s action echoes that of his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, who began the process of pulling the United States out of the WHO with an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 21.
Argentina’s decision is based on “profound differences in health management, especially during the [COVID19] pandemic,” spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference in Buenos Aires. He said that WHO guidelines at the time had led to the largest shutdown “in the history of mankind.”
He also said that the WHO lacked independence because of the political influence of some countries, without elaborating which countries.
Argentina will not allow an international organization to intervene in its sovereignty “and much less in our health,” Adorni said.
The WHO is the United Nations’ specialized health agency and is the only organization mandated to coordinate global responses to acute health crises, particularly outbreaks of new diseases and persistent threats such as Ebola, AIDS and mpox.
