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US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US out of the WHO. This would cut funding for the UN’s medical agency by one-fifth.

Will they really exit, or can a deal be made? Lawrence Gostin hopes so, and as a professor of law at Georgetown, and director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, he is working with senior US and WHO officials to try and understand what reforms could be made to WHO what would allow a such a deal to be be struck.

Gostin also believes that the president cannot withdraw from the WHO with an executive order, but instead requires congressional approval - and is exploring the options for legal challenge to the move.

00:00 Intro

01:01 US history with the WHO

03:31 Executive order

06:35 WHO’s relationship with China

11:14 Funding

12:47 Benefits to US from the WHO

18:05 H5N1 threat

19:43 World benefits from US involvement

21:57 A deal to be made?

24:55 Legal action?

26:37 Administration responses

Read Professor Larry Gostin’s co-written opinion piece on the dangers of a US withdrawal from the WHO here: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r116