The Pandemic Treaty, Wildfires, and Health-Care Attacks

Editor's Note

Shortly after assuming office on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and ceasing negotiations on the Pandemic Agreement. The decision, though not yet in effect, would weaken the WHO and isolate the United States in facing global health challenges. It also comes less than a month ahead of when negotiations for the Pandemic Agreement are set to resume in February.

Against that backdrop, professors Colin J. Carlson, Daniel J. Becker, and Timothée Poisot remind the global health community that negotiations, as well as implementation, are likely to continue with or without any one country. The authors urge negotiators to reach a consensus on how to make future pandemics less deadly and have fewer pandemics altogether ahead of the World Health Assembly in May.

In another executive order, Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, a decision that comes just two weeks after climate-change fueled wildfires broke out in Los Angeles. To discuss how wildfires threaten human and environmental health during and after an event, CFR Senior Fellow Alice C. Hill and Research Associate Priyanka Mahat describe how debris produced by wildfires can worsen preexisting health conditions—including respiratory issues and cardiovascular problems—and result in premature deaths.

Building on that analysis, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations' Michael Brauer points to how other wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, are informing the response to and recovery from the current string of fires.

Journalist Christianez Ratna Kiruba wraps up the issue by exploring how Indian media could perpetuate negative stereotypes of doctors, potentially contributing to a rise in attacks on health-care workers.

Until next week!—Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor