Health officials for the United States and Argentina released a joint statement urging countries to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) and form a new entity rooted in “scientific integrity, transparency, and the defense of human dignity.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Argentine Minister of Health Mario Lugones condemned the WHO, stating its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic “revealed serious structural and operational shortcomings that undermined global trust and highlighted the urgent need for independent, science-based leadership in global health.”
“The absence of meaningful reforms, disproportionate financial demands, and the increasing politicization of the organization have ultimately led the United States and Argentina to withdraw from the WHO,” the health leaders wrote, noting that the organization has moved away from its mission and has instead become “increasingly reliant on voluntary contributions and vulnerable to the influence of non-scientific agendas.”
“Withdrawal marks the beginning of a new path—toward building a modern global health cooperation model grounded in scientific integrity, transparency, sovereignty, and accountability,” Kennedy and Lugones added. “Our shared commitment is to cost-effective, evidence-based public health interventions that prioritize prevention, especially in children, by addressing root causes such as environmental toxins, nutritional deficiencies, and food safety standards.”
Explaining both countries’ efforts to strengthen their citizens’ health, the officials declared, “Real health threats demand urgency and gold-standard science.”
“We can no longer support a system that fails to protect our people or deliver on its mandate,” the statement emphasized. “The United States and Argentina invite all nations committed to scientific integrity, transparency, and the defense of human dignity to join us in shaping a new era of global health cooperation—one focused on results, sovereignty, and a safer future for all.”
This week, Kennedy met with Argentine President Javier Milei to discuss the nations’ “mutual withdrawal from the WHO and the creation of an alternative international health system based on gold-standard science and free from totalitarian impulses, corruption, and political control,” he wrote on social media.
Kennedy similarly condemned the WHO after it adopted its pandemic agreement.
“Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international power politics,” he said, later adding, “We need to reboot the whole system, as we are doing in the United States.”
“Here in the United States, we’re going to continue to focus on infectious disease and pandemic preparedness, but we’re also fundamentally shifting the priorities of our health agencies to focus on chronic diseases, which are prevalent in the United States,” he said.
