The head of the UN's health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington's stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as "untrue," AFP reported.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO "makes both the US and the world less safe".
And in a post on X, he added, "Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue."
He insisted, "WHO has always engaged with the US and all member states with full respect for their sovereignty."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO.
They accused the agency of numerous "failures during the Covid-19 pandemic" and of acting "repeatedly against the interests of the United States".
The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdrawal has taken effect.
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