The Argentine government led by Javier Milei has announced that it plans to pull out of the World Health Organisation (WHO).A spokesman for President Milei said the decision to exit the WHO was triggered by “deep differences regarding health management especially during the [Covid-19] pandemic”.The announcement comes just over two weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing from the international health body.The two leaders have expressed admiration for each other, with Milei calling Trump’s re-election the “greatest political comeback in history”, while the US president described his Argentine counterpart as “my favourite president”.In an official statement, the Argentine presidential office said that “the WHO was created in 1948 to co-ordinate the response to global health emergencies, but it failed during the biggest challenge: it advocated eternal lockdowns without scientific backing during its battle against the Covid-19 pandemic”.The statement also argues that “today, evidence suggests that the WHO’s prescriptions don’t work because they are the result of political influence rather than being based on science”.Argentine media say they expect President Milei to sign an executive order in the coming days which will begin the process of Argentina pulling out from the WHO.Speaking at a news conference, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said that “we Argentines are not going to allow an international body to interfere with our sovereignty, and even less with our health”.The spokesman argued that an exit from the WHO would provide Argentina with more flexibility to implement policies tailored to its own interests and to administer its funds as it saw fit. He said membership of the WHO cost Argentina about $10m (£8m) annually. President Milei, who describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist”, has been critical of the WHO for some time but the idea of leaving the body appears …
