Both the state of Illinois and New York City have announced they will join World Health Organizationof the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), below Donald TrumpA decision to withdraw the US from the global body in 2025.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, made it Advertisement On Tuesday, Illinois will become part of a coordinated international network dedicated to monitoring and responding to global disease outbreaks.
It is the second US state to join after California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, also took the measure. 23 January After the Trump administration completing its exit from the network.
By withdrawing from World Health OrganizationDonald Trump has undermined science and undermined our nation’s ability to identify and respond to global health threats. I refuse to sit idly by and let it happen,” Pritzker said this week.
He said: “By joining the World Health Organization’s coordination network, GOARN, we are ensuring that our public health leaders – and the public – have the information, expertise and partnerships they need to protect our state’s people. Along with valued partners across our state and around the world, Illinois Science, preparedness and people will continue to come first.
Illinois Lt. Governor, Juliana Stratton, echoed the governor’s comments, saying: “We will always choose the health of our people over political grandstanding or misinformation, and we will focus on what keeps families and communities safe.”
Through its membership in GOARN, Illinois gains direct access to global early warning alerts and outbreak intelligence, as well as opportunities for technical cooperation and surge support during major public health emergencies. The state also participates in international training programs, exercises and best-practice exchanges, Pritzker’s office said.
Following the Illinois decision, New York City’s health department made a similar announcement Wednesday: “By joining GOARN, New York City will gain access to a global network of more than 360 organizations and institutions that can deploy personnel and resources to affected countries to respond to severe public health events.”
Michelle Morse, the city’s acting health commissioner and chief medical officer, also released a statement: “Infections know no borders, and neither should the information and resources that help us protect New Yorkers.”
With an annual budget of $1.6bn and more than 7,000 employees, the New York City Department of Health One of the biggest Public Health Organizations of the World.
The moves from Illinois and New York City came after Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). After assuming office last year. The US is the WHO’s largest donor, accounting for 18% of its total funding. led to its departure About a quarter loss About 2,000 jobs in WHO’s workforce – out of total staff – about 9,400.
Trump’s US withdrawal has been widely condemned, including by the medical establishment American Medical Associationas well as the And.
Even Morse Denied The decision in January said New York City “has an outside risk” of infectious disease outbreaks and is “often the first and hardest hit,” especially given the 70 million visitors the city attracts each year.
Trump accused the WHO of failing to act independently due to undue political influence from WHO member states.
He also criticized the organization’s funding structure, complaining of “unfairly burdensome payments” from the US and Said Last January: “Global health rips us off, everyone rips the United States off. It can’t happen anymore.”
After the US withdrawal, Illinois and New York were two states Joined Last October, the Governors’ Public Health Alliance, a coalition of 15 governors — including those from Oregon and California — “committed to protecting their states from the Trump administration’s erosion of confidence and dismantling of America’s public health infrastructure”.
