Health Secretary urges world to see US withdrawal from WHO as a "wake up call"

7 months ago

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on nations to see the United States' withdrawal from the World Health Organization as as "wake up call".

Transcript

00:00Global cooperation on health is still critically important to President Trump and myself,

00:13but it isn't working very well under the WHO, as the failures of the COVID era demonstrate.

00:20The WHO has not even come to terms with its failures during COVID, let alone

00:25made significant reforms. Instead, it has doubled down with the pandemic agreement,

00:30which will lock in all of the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response.

00:37We're not going to participate in that. We need to reboot the whole system,

00:41as we are doing in the United States.

00:45Here in the United States, we're going to continue to focus on infectious disease

00:49and pandemic preparedness. But we're also fundamentally shifting the priorities of our

00:55health agencies to focus on chronic diseases, which are prevalent in the United States.

01:00It's the chronic disease epidemic that is sickening our people and bankrupting our health care system.

01:07We're now pivoting to make our health care system more responsive to this reality.

01:12We're going to make health care in the United States serve the needs of the public

01:16instead of industry profit-taking. We're removing food dyes and other harmful additives from our food supply.

01:23We're investigating the causes of autism and other chronic diseases.

01:28We're seeking to reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods.

01:32And we're going to support lifestyle changes that will bolster the immune systems and transform

01:38the health of our people. Few of these efforts lend themselves easily to profits or

01:44serve established special interests. These changes can only occur through the kind of systemic overhaul

01:50that President Trump has brought to our country.

01:56We'd like to see a similar reordering of priorities on the global stage, especially considering the fact

02:02that through the leadership of the United States and funding from our country over the past 25 years,

02:07millions of global citizens have seen a reduction in premature death due to HIV, TB, and malaria.

02:17Let's return to the core focus of global health and global health security, back to reducing

02:23infectious disease burden and the spread of diseases of pandemic potential. I urge the world's health

02:31ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call.

02:37It isn't that President Trump and I have lost interest in international cooperation, not at all.

02:46We just want it to happen in a way that's fair and efficient and transparent for all the member states.

02:52We've already been in contact with like-minded countries and we encourage others to consider joining us.

02:59We want a free international health cooperation from the straitjacket of political interference by

03:04corrupting influences of the pharmaceutical companies of adversarial nations and their NGO proxies.

03:13I would like to take this opportunity to invite my fellow health ministers around the world

03:19into a new era of cooperation. We don't have to suffer the limits of a more abundant WHO.

03:25So let's create new institutions or revisit existing institutions that are lean, efficient, transparent,

03:32and accountable. Whether it's an emergency outbreak of an infectious disease or the pervasive

03:39rot of chronic conditions that have been overtaking not just America but the whole world,

03:43the whole world, we're ready to work with you.

Health Secretary urges world to see US withdrawal from WHO as a "wake up call"

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