Ooh, that’s a big one,” Donald Trump said Monday as he signed an executive order – one of dozens during his first hours as president – to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.

The WHO is a United Nations agency that aims to expand universal health coverage, coordinates responses to health emergencies such as pandemics, and has a broad focus on healthy lives. It does not have the power to enforce health policy, but influences policy worldwide, especially in low-income countries.

The WHO is an agency of the United Nations tasked with coordinating responses to public health emergencies between nations. The United States is a founding member of the organization, which was set up in 1948 in the wake of World War II.

As part of his blitz of executive orders, President Trump delivered on a promise to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. The Trump White House accuses the WHO of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and bias toward China.

Public health experts say the United States’ departure could cripple the WHO’s operations or leave an opening for China to assume greater control over the agency.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would begin the process of removing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. Here's why.

The pair of mandates will effectively silo U.S. public health agencies from their international counterparts and sever the American public, health providers, and research hubs from information about infectious diseases,

Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization could weaken the agency’s ability to respond to health crises and increase China’s influence in global health.Dan Diamond and Lena H.