Dr. Madhukar Pai, a global health professor at McGill University, is sounding the alarm from the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva. Dr. Pai is attending crucial meetings on tuberculosis when President Donald Trump signed an executive order pulling the United States out of the WHO. The U.S., a major contributor to the organization, accounted for 18% of its budget in 2023. This decision has sent shockwaves through the global health community, prompting concerns about the potential impact on public health worldwide, including in Canada.
The WHO expressed regret over the U.S. exit, emphasizing the significant role the United States plays in supporting global health initiatives. Dr. Pai voiced his concerns about how this withdrawal might affect Canada's health security due to its geographic proximity to the U.S. He warned that if a major disease outbreak occurs in the U.S., it could rapidly spread to Canada, given the close economic and social ties between the two nations.
"Everybody here is absolutely stressed, devastated, and literally freaking out because some of their programs at WHO are extremely reliant on U.S. government funding," said Dr. Pai.
The U.S. pullout could result in a substantial loss of funding for global health programs, making it challenging for the WHO to maintain its operations and continue its life-saving initiatives. Dr. Pai is calling on the Canadian government to step up and help fill the funding void left by the U.S., urging increased support for WHO activities to prevent public health threats from escalating.
"They’re not even sure how to keep the lights on, keep their staff working, keep the programs going, so it's a pretty massive crisis," he added.
The timing of this decision is particularly concerning as measles cases are rising in both the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Pai emphasized the need for heightened vaccination efforts to combat these outbreaks and prevent a return to times when diseases like polio and whooping cough were rampant.
"We cannot go back in time to a period where kids were getting paralyzed with polio or dying of measles and whooping cough. We had come a long, long way and we're now starting to slip back and that's very scary," Dr. Pai warned.
Dr. Pai also highlighted his concerns about "anti-vaccine rhetoric" from some Trump appointees, fearing it could exacerbate the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. The global health professor stressed that without U.S. involvement, responding to public health threats globally would become more challenging.
"There are wide-ranging impacts, I would say, to all countries, not just Canada," he stated.
The WHO hopes for continued dialogue with the United States to maintain their partnership and safeguard the health of millions worldwide.
"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," expressed the World Health Organization.
Dr. Pai's concerns extend beyond borders, with potential implications for everyone. The movement of populations between Canada and the U.S., coupled with trade and open borders, means that any outbreak in one country could quickly affect the other.
"I think we'll be hit, for example, if there is a new outbreak and (the) U.S. is simply not engaged with WHO or the global response. And if that outbreak spreads within the U.S…. I think Canada will be the first one to be impacted given the movement of population between our two countries, trade and our fairly open borders," Dr. Pai explained.
