The Biden presidency is off to a swift start. Last month, a U.S. delegation headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci participated in the World Health Organization (WHO)’s executive board meeting after the administration reversed its predecessor’s withdrawal from the U.N. organ over its handling of Covid-19 and its approach to the Chinese government. Instead of severing ties, Biden wants the United States to work within the WHO to strengthen and reform it. This move and the Biden administration’s wider commitment to restoring American relationships with international institutions are just as well given the unprecedented challenges Biden faces as the western world’s newly minted de-facto leader.
Increasingly virulent strains of Covid-19 continue to wreak havoc across the world and could trigger an economic crisis. Biden will also need to address relations with an increasingly belligerent China that has consistently downplayed, lied about or attempted to deflect from its own role in the pandemic whilst obstructing global health workers and brazenly asserting its diplomatic and military clout against rivals.
Biden’s approach is wise given the importance of the role that a global organization capable of tackling future pandemics that could affect us all plays. Reform is certainly something that the WHO needs given its unacceptable mistakes that former President Trump rightly criticized it for.
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