Women’s Health Organizations Urge Continued U.S. Leadership in WHO

Washington, DC – The following is a statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), joined by AAGL, the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOOG), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), the Council of University Chairs of Obstetrics and Gynecology (CUCOG), the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG), the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO), the Society of Family Planning (SFP), and the Society for Maternal–Fetal Medicine (SMFM):

“The recent actions of the administration to withdraw from the WHO require adamant opposition from leaders and health care professionals worldwide. We are in the midst of a historic global health crisis, and now is not the time for the United States to relinquish our role as a steadfast leader in global health by terminating our partnership with this essential organization.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not the only crisis facing the world, or the United States. The WHO works to eliminate gender-based disparities that leave women around the world subject to disproportionate illness, violence, and suffering. Our country’s participation as a member state in the WHO can help maintain advances in the efforts to improve lives of women around the world.

“We strongly urge the administration to rescind the effort to terminate the United States’ relationship with the WHO and to work to reestablish the United States’ constructive participation by in the effort to find worldwide solutions to the grave global health problems of our times.”