|
Listen to article
|
The World Health Organization’s member states on Friday reached a consensus to note Argentina’s notification of withdrawal from the WHO, adding they would always welcome full cooperation from Buenos Aires.
At the 79th annual World Health Assembly of member states, which is the WHO’s decision-making body, countries had to consider Argentina’s wish to follow the United States and withdraw from the health agency of the United Nations.
The assembly considered several proposals regarding Argentina’s withdrawal notification, and agreed a compromise text by consensus.
Read Also: DR Congo Ebola Crisis Now A WHO International Emergency
The assembly “noted” the communication received by UN chief Antonio Guterres on March 17, 2025 notifying him that Argentina withdraws from the WHO, “effective one year after the receipt of that letter”.
The assembly “resolves that while the World Health Organization will always welcome the Argentine Republic’s full co-operation in the work of the organisation, it is not considered that any further action at this stage is desirable”, the approved, brief resolution said.
Norway and Paraguay were the main drivers behind the compromise.
Buenos Aires was a minor contributor to the WHO’s budget. The G20 country’s membership fees for 2024 and 2025 were around $4.1 million a year.
A report by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in January recalled that in 1949-1950, seven member states — including the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria — issued notice saying they no longer considered themselves members.
When they resumed participation, the assembly decided they would pay a “token payment” for the period when their membership was inactive.
The resolution adopted Friday used exactly the same language as member states did in 1950.
The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern over an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — its highest alert level, triggered after the Bundibugyo strain of the virus moved beyond its origin point in Ituri province, crossed into Uganda and turned up in Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, thousands of kilometers from where the outbreak began.
Around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths have been recorded so far. Eight have been laboratory confirmed. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was frank about the gap between those figures and reality, warning of “significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread.” The outbreak, in other words, is almost certainly bigger than what health systems are currently able to see.
What separates this crisis from previous Ebola emergencies is the strain involved.
The Bundibugyo virus has no approved vaccine and no approved treatment — the medical tools that helped contain earlier outbreaks simply do not exist for this one. Historical data puts its case fatality rate at around 30 percent.
Uganda confirmed two cases, including the death of a 59-year-old Congolese man whose body was subsequently returned home. A confirmed case also emerged in Goma, the eastern city currently under M23 rebel control. The confirmed Kinshasa case — believed to involve a patient who had traveled from Ituri — is the data point that sharpens the urgency most. When a pathogen with no available vaccine reaches a capital city of nearly 17 million people, the containment calculation changes entirely.
Read also: 93-Year-Old Genocide Accused Kabuga Dies In Custody
Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya flagged funeral practices as a specific transmission risk requiring immediate public messaging. Community burial customs — where family members wash and prepare bodies — drove significant spread during the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that eventually killed more than 11,000 people. “We don’t want people infected because of funerals,” Kaseya said.
Six American citizens have reportedly been exposed to the virus in DRC, with one showing symptoms, though no infections have been confirmed.
The US government was working to evacuate the group, with a military facility in Germany cited as a possible destination. The CDC announced it was deploying additional staff to both DRC and Uganda.
