On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that the nation is withdrawing fully from the World Health Organization (WHO), the organization that coordinates global health responses and data.
DHHS cited the COVID-19 response and failure to “adopt meaningful reforms to address political influence,” but the WHO is also responsible for coordinating vaccine standards, collecting public health data, and otherwise globalizing health responses in ways that are targeted to make people healthier and safer everywhere.
For parents, the big question that follows is, how will this affect my kids? Here’s what we know about how this might affect prenatal care, pediatric care, and general health and safety for families and children in the near and more distant future.
This Could Affect Vaccination Schedules & Vaccine Hesitancy
Like the recent change in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended childhood vaccination schedule, this move doesn’t seem likely to prompt any sudden changes in the immediate future.
However, that leaves a lot up in the air. For now, you should still be able to obtain the same standard of care for your child that you currently enjoy, including access to vaccines and pediatric well-checks.
Cutting the WHO out of U.S. medical data exchange and decision-making could (again, as with the CDC schedule change) increase vaccine hesitancy, increase the flow of disinformation and misinformation about vaccine safety, and thus decrease both herd immunity and, over time, the accessibility of specific vaccines.
Similarly, over time, it will mean the U.S. has less data on outbreaks, pandemics, and other global health factors. It will likely mean even less cohesion the next time the world faces a global health crisis and could lead to worse health outcomes.
Who Will Replace The WHO In The U.S. And Lead Health Guidance?
The WHO, the CDC, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) are just a few of the organizations that issue recommendations to guide public health policy.
All of these organizations are typically guided by science, backing decisions with data and studies, seeking to improve health outcomes in the United States and globally. That’s not to say that they can’t ever be wrong or change a recommendation upon new information, or that politics never sway anyone; only that health, science, and medicine are intended to be central to their works.
Now, the DHHS says that health recommendations will come from a set of organizations, including religious organizations.
“Going forward, the U.S. government will continue its global health leadership through existing and new engagements directly with other countries, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and faith-based entities.”
They do not indicate which organizations and corporations will be involved, leaving us to guess what other interests might come into play.
What Should Parents Do Now?
Without the WHO issuing guidance to our nation’s leadership, information networks could fail to efficiently communicate health data.
That means parents may have to be more vigilant. Think back to when you first heard about COVID. For many of us, it was through a media outlet reporting on a government response or a health entity’s response.
If the U.S. is cut off from the WHO, a future notice of a similar kind might be less visible or might not come through the government. That means parents will have to pay more attention to their own health and keep an eye out for diseases that are already having a recurrence, like the current measles epidemic.
Parents should pay close attention to their children’s pediatricians’ advice and recommendations from nonpartisan health organizations, and use that information to guide the best possible decisions for their children’s health in a time of heightened uncertainty.