By Dr Nicholas Aribino
On January 20, 2025, Mr Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the USA from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The rationale behind the ejection of the USA from WHO was that WHO had mismanaged the COVID -19 pandemic and parri passu had failed to adopt necessary reforms. This move may be regarded as a kick in the teeth for African leaders as they often build into their national fiscal spaces votes from WHO for health care. Mr Trump is coming into government from a business world where there is no free lunch and where every asset should sweat for the continued growth of a company. For Mr Trump, relations should be built on the basis of quid pro quo. Given his financial mind, Mr Trump’s actions are also informed by the notion of cost benefit analysis. By extension, Mr Trump views the USA’s international commitment to the UN agencies as being too cozy especially for African leaders that he has repeatedly characterised as self-seeking and corrupt out and out. It is the purpose of this opinion piece to discuss the withdrawal of the USA from the WHO and in the process intimating that every cloud has a silver lining.
The USA has been the biggest contributor to the UN. From 1948 to date the USA has contributed USD 10 billion towards the WHO. The ramifications of the USA’s withdrawal from WHO are too ghastly to cogitate given that the biggest social infrastructure of health and childcare in Africa has been borne by WHO. For example, WHO has been offering ancillary support in the areas of research and development, HIV and AIDs, malaria, water and sanitation, measles, cancer, cholera, tuberculosis, immunisation and epilepsy, among other things. WHO also has staff from African countries whose jobs may be on the line as a result of this development. The withdrawal of the USA from WHO may invite significant cuts in votes for Africa leading to the areas that have been supported by WHO struggling to stay afloat. For this writer, Trump’s initiative comes with hard lessons for the African leaders. These hard lessons are akin to the lessons that are given to eaglets by the mother eagle when it wants them to learn to fly and to fend for themselves; the mother eagle destroys the nest. For the eaglets to survive, they will need to adopt and adapt to the changes the hard way by learning every trick in the book. African leaders ought to appreciate that in every situation there is a nugget of gold and that a bent in the road does not mean the end of the road unless one fails to navigate it. With respect to this development under discussion, African leaders should come together to create their own intergovernmental organisation that mirrors the functions of WHO. This intergovernmental organisation can comprise all the 55 African countries and can be called African Health Organisation (AHO). Africa has expanded capabilities and capacities that can drive the idea of AHO to realise its funded mandate of providing healthcare to the inhabitants of Africa. Power lies in the collective. Africa has mineral wealth and medical professionals that can anchor the idea of AHO.
AHO can be an organ of African Union head quartered in any one of the African countries and its personnel can be drawn from people with the requisite expert power from Africa. The infrastructure that can be used to strengthen this structure (AHO) can come from contributions made from all the 55 countries. AHO can engage in boundary spanning with civil society organisations within Africa for financial, technical and logistical support. The resources of AHO could be deployed in health emergencies (pandemic preparedness and response), staff strengthening, acquisition of medical equipment and materials. The organogram of AHO can be made up along the lines of other regional bodies with people appointed based on their competence and good character. African leaders ought to realise that the Northern countries that have global influence like IMF, WHO, WB, UNICEF and other UN agencies thrive on ancient ill-gotten wealth from Africa during the epoch of colonialism and slavery. Africa should consider this ancient ill-gotten wealth as spilt milk. The good thing is that its just milk that was spilt, but the producer of that milk, which is the cow is still alive. The cow in this case is the continent of Africa through its constituent parts (countries). For example, under the belly of the DRC lies mineral wealth worth USD 24 trillion but the DRC is one of the most impoverished African nations. Zimbabwe is also one of the lucky few African countries with numerous minerals, one of which is lithium that can leverage economic growth, yet its economy is tanking. Sudan’s and Nigeria’s area of gifting is oil, yet their citizens are wallowing deep dyed poverty. If the resources of these African countries can be harnessed to good use through votes fenced off for AHO, Africa can easily forget about the USA’s withdrawal from WHO. African countries need to work together through AU to create strong institutions that can serve Africans in times of both peace and conflict, and AHO is one structure that can rise to this occasion.
Storms come with opportunities, this storm under discussion should open the African leaders’ third eye for forming strong synergies around AHO. Sun Tzu, a great Chinese military thought leader advises generals to always be like water that adapts itself to the configuration of the ground. The pulling out of the USA from WHO should stimulate thinking as if there is no box for African leaders so that they can survive this storm.
