African Union (AU) has appealed to President Donald Trump of the United States to reconsider the withdrawal of his country from the World Health Organization (WHO).
President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from WHO on Monday after his inauguration.
WHO had appealed to Trump to reconsider his position for the benefit of citizens of the globe it serves.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said the decision of the Trump administration to withdraw from WHO was dismaying.
“The USA as a member of WHO, was crucial in shaping global WHO instruments and norms on public health security and wellbeing over the past seven decades.
“In Africa, the USA was an early and strong supporter towards the establishment of Africa CDC, the African Union’s technical agency for public health emergencies that works with WHO and the global WHO membership to detect, prepare for, respond to and recover from pandemics.
“Today, now more than ever, the world depends on WHO to carry out its mandate to ensure global public health security as a shared common good,” it read.
The Chairperson therefore hoped the US government would reconsider its decision to withdraw from this key global Organization of which it was a founding member.
