ACOG Discourages the Administration from Severing Ties with the World Health Organization

ACOG is committed to improving and protecting the health of women around the world. We are concerned about the recent announcement that the President plans to terminate the United States’s relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). We encourage the Administration to position the United States as a steadfast leader in global health, especially as we confront the ongoing global health crisis of COVID-19.

It is clear that a unified response from around the world is required for the containment and eradication of COVID-19, thus saving millions of lives. To that end, severing our relationship with the WHO at this time is reckless and would represent a large step backward in the fight to contain COVID-19 worldwide. Our efforts to support vaccine development; protect maternal and child health gains; and to work with other countries to improve containment, testing, and treatment of COVID-19 should be done in solidarity with the global health community.  

There are no borders to this virus, and the United States has a moral imperative to help support and contribute to the efforts to reduce the harm from COVID-19 around the world and, in so doing, to protect the lives of those here in America. We strongly urge the Administration to participate constructively in the WHO and in the effort to find worldwide solutions to the grave global pandemic.