After Trump’s steps, Milei seeks to get Argentina out of WHO: What does it mean for the country?

Spanish CNN
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Two weeks after President Donald Trump announced that he will seek to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei replied for his country this decision, with similar arguments.

“The poor management of the organization before the Covid-19 pandemic and other world health crises, its inability to adopt urgently necessary reforms and its inability to demonstrate independence,” were the reasons that Trump wielded in his announcement.

This Wednesday, after the announcement of presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni, Milei took another step and, without evidence, he said in his X account: “We will never forget (De) that they were the ideologues of the cavernícola quarantine that meant committing, in complicity With all the states that took their directives, one of the crimes against humanity most quiet in history. That is why we have decided to get out of such a nefarious organism and that it was the executing arm of what was the greatest social control experiment in history. ”

The social, preventive and mandatory isolation began in Argentina on March 20, 2020 and extended until November of that year, when some measures were flexible according to the district. Today, it is estimated that in the country there have been 130,472 deaths from the disease, according to data from the John Hopkins University. During the first stage of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Centers for the Control and Prevention of diseases of the US Combat respiratory viruses and higher rates of severe cases, including hospitalizations and deaths.

The Minister of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, Nicolás Kreplak, refutes part of the Argentine president’s accusations.

“Argentina’s care measures were exceptional and Argentina had one of the best health matters in the world in pandemic, so everything that the government says is a lie. But they were not influenced by WHO decisions. They are sovereign decisions that our country takes from the national government and in consultation with the provinces, ”he told CNN.

For his part, Adolfo Rubinstein, former Minister of Health between 2017 and 2018 during the Government of Mauricio Macri and current director of the Implementation and Innovation Center in Health Policies (CIIPS) at the Institute of Clinical and Health Effectiveness (IECS), also rejects what Milei said about the supposed interference that WHO had in the measures to combat COVID-19.

This is not the first time that Milei follows the agenda of its American pair, but what concrete consequences could the multilateral organization have for Argentina and what are the necessary steps to specify it?

In the first place, to make effective the exit of the agency, Law 13,211 should be repealed through Congress – for this they will need to achieve the necessary votes together with parliamentary allies, since the congressmen of Freedom Avanza do not have the sufficient number to approve The norm – or a decree of necessity and urgency, which the Congress would then have the power to reject in both chambers of not agreeing with the measure.

While there is no history in which a country has completed its OMS departure, judicial experts ensure that, if approved, the decision is not immediate and requires at least one year to realize.

However, the debate regarding what could be carried out from this measure was already installed among health professionals, which warn about the importance of WHO for the coordination of international health policies.

Argentina entered the Pan American Health Organization in 1937. When the World Health Organization was formed, in 1948, the country signed its inclusion in the National Constitution, that is, it is part of the agency since its conception. According to the 2024 budget forecast, the country is paid to WHO the equivalent of about US $ 1,135,000 and the PAHOs about US $ 369,500, as quota and contributions. WHO plays a leadership function in world health matters, configures the health research agenda, provides technical support to countries and follows world health tendencies, among many of its functions.

Kreplak said that Argentina does not “any good in any way” to leave the WHO, because it goes against “the indispensable international coordination in terms of health.”

“That national coordination surveys of possible infectious diseases. For example, it was very important to warn about the sympathy recently. We are now facing great concern and global surveillance about a possible serious avian flu epidemic that we have been following throughout the world, and that is done by WHO. Of course it was key in the early warning of information about the variants of what had been happening in the pandemic (of Covid-19), ”Kreplak added.

Rubinstein agreed to rule out benefits for Argentina to take this measure.

“This decision, in my consideration, has been totally thoughtless, without even taking healthy considerations and deeply mistaken from the political and the strategic (…) I think it is a blow of media effect this in this that I call politics Performance. This is not a decision that can be taken from one day to another, at least one year is required to retire, ”he said in dialogue with CNN.

The host foundation, a non -governmental organization in favor of the right to health and disease control, expressed to the CNN consultation concern about this measure, by alerting that it would affect access to emergency funds, purchase of vaccines and international health coordination .

A few hours after the news, part of the cabinet, had to go out to clarify details. The Minister of Health, Mario Lugones, explained that “leaving WHO does not mean losing cooperation or financing.”

“The agreements with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are still valid, the vaccination calendar is secured and we continue to access epidemiological information and inputs at a lower cost,” he added.

For its part, the Secretary of Administrative Management of the Ministry of Health of the Nation, Cecilia Loccisano, expanded in her X account: “The vaccination calendar is insured and international cooperation is not cut.” He reiterated that specific technical cooperation projects with funds managed through PAHOs will remain in force, “such as the operation and provision of quality reagents and controls for national and regional laboratories and reference centers.”

But Rubinstein questions the possibility of separating the WHO participation from the PAHO.

“The Pan American Health Organization represents the WHO in the region of the Americas that, although the government says that it leaves the WHO but that it will not retire from the PAHO, we must see what actually happens, and If the OPS accepts it without doing anything. Because with PAHO we do have agreements and relationships that can be very harmful to the extent that it breaks, ”he said.

The former minister gave as an example that 80% of the vaccines of the National Vaccination Calendar are bought by PAHO, with “significantly minor prices”, as well as high -cost medications and critical supplies.

From the WHO Media Office they told CNN that the agency is analyzing the announcement of the Argentine government and the recent statements of Milei.

This is not the first or the only measure of Milei in reflection to Trump’s policies.

After participating in the assumption of the US president, Milei appeared at the Davos forum – for the second time as president – where he took a message that had little to do with the typical economic agenda of the summit.

On that occasion, Milei pointed against the “gender agenda”, as refers to the principles that point to and seek to combat the disadvantages facing the LGBTQ community. He also spoke against “wokism”, a term frequently used disparagingly to denote an exaggerated sensitivity or political correction on topics such as climate change or minority defense.

Since Adorni announced the decision of Argentina’s departure from WHO, the Government added two ads that also seem traced by Trump’s agenda.

On the one hand, the presidential spokesman made a second presentation on Wednesday afternoon, in which he said that the government will seek gender identity. The announcement was given the same day that Trump signed a decree to prevent trans women from participating in women’s sports.

Adorni said that this seeks to “protect the physical and mental integrity” of children and adolescents. In the opinion of the Executive, who did not support evidence, these measures harm those who are under 18. This is contrasted with the current law, approved in 2012 by the Legislative, which allows those over 18 years of They must have the consent of their legal representatives and the approval of a judge.

The treatments of affirmation of the genre are considered medically necessary to help a person to transition from the genre that had been assigned to the one with which he identifies.

In the United States, in the case of minors, the Pediatrics Academy of this country advises doctors to provide appropriate treatment, without prejudice and in a safe clinical space. The treatment is individual and can also include family, school colleagues and the community where a minor develops.

Some minors choose medications that delay puberty and that, according to studies mentioned by CNN, help reduce the stress generated by the physiological changes of this stage. In the US, there are few children who opt for surgery.

CNN contacted the Ministry of Health of Argentina and the National Institute of Statistics and Census to request information on the subject and is waiting for a response.

Another advance, in tune with American politics, which gave Milei to the French media Le Point, was that his government is evaluating his departure from the Paris Agreement, measure that the president of the United States signed two weeks ago. Milei answered the weekly that he is considering because he does not adhere to “the environmental agenda”, which he described as “fraud” – despite the crisis of climate change is real. A new reflection in Trump’s mirror.